Jean Baptiste De la salle award

Each year the Catholic Teacher's Guild of Toronto recognizes a DISTINGUISHED Catholic educator. If you know an exemplary Catholic Educator who you would like to nominate for the 2023 Jean Baptiste de la Salle award, please consider nomination him or her. The Nomination form will be available on this page in the late spring of 2023. 
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, our Church’s patron saint of teachers, spent most of his life dedicated to educating the poor and establishing lasting education practices that truly bring the teachings of Christ into our schools. De la Salle was practical in his approach to education and believed all people, including those considered delinquents were worthy of education. Another remarkable feature of de la Salle was the spread of his work to other regions and countries.  He not only was concerned about students, but fellow educators and set out to help them be better teachers, allowing Catholic education to reach more people.
 
The Catholic Teacher's Guild recognizes that there are many educators who are living out this vision in their day-to-day tasks as educators, those who recognize the dignity of the human person and are devoted to reaching out to all students, those whose piety and dedication to education inspire and motivate other educators to be witnesses to Christ. 
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With this criteria in mind, please open the nomination form below and describe why the person you are nominating is a faithful witness as a Catholic educator and continues de la Salle's work in education. Please also provide the names of colleagues who support this nomination. (The nominee need not be a member of the Catholic Teachers Guild, nor a classroom teacher. The person may be an educator in a non-class room capacity). The winner will be presented the award by Cardinal Thomas Collins at the Annual Education Mass.

Toronto CTG Jean-Baptiste De La Salle Award Recipients

2023 - RODNEY BURLEY (YCDSB)
Rodney Burley has a background in manufacturing engineering, working primarily for Magna for over 20 years before entering the teaching profession. His teaching vocation began in the Fall of 2009 at St. Elizabeth Catholic High School in York Region as a teacher of manufacturing technology, where he was also involved with the robotics team, retiring in 2023 from St. Theresa of Lisieux Catholic High School, also in York Region. Mr. Burley not only brought in new equipment, new technology, design, and updates to the classroom, but he fostered a sense of community and belonging, a caring environment with leadership and stability in a world growing in uncertainty. All students, including those with troubled backgrounds, those who are not comfortable sitting in the halls or eating lunch by themselves in the cafeteria would find a place of comfort Mr. Burley’s classroom. Just as Jesus went to the marginalized, Mr. Burley welcomed them into his classroom treating all with dignity and respect. His experiences in engineering made him an effective teacher, and a mentor to other teachers, but it was his Catholic faith that led him to the teaching vocation. His experiences and steps along the way in his journey were all part of God’s plan that made him the educator he is. It is through his journey that he was able to relate to students, tell them stories, and connect with them at a more personal level to show them that God is also there for them. His previous career made him a better teacher, but his faith shaped the way he would become an educator. Students developed such a strong sense of trust and encouragement that they would return to visit him, oftentimes several years after graduation, to update him on their lives and to continue asking for advice. They would seek him out because they know he cares. It is this approach to education that has made Mr. Burley a worthy candidate for the 2023 De La Salle Award.

​2022 - Maryse (Dushani) Selvakumar (YCDSB)

Dushani is the face of Catholicism at Father Michael McGivney Catholic Academy. She is very popular among her students and is very intelligent, hardworking, humble, and possesses excellent leadership qualities. She has always shown her interest in academics and is very knowledgeable in her Catholic faith.
 
When the school launched a Gay Straight Alliance, she joined in order to ensure that the work and mission aligned and was consistent with the teachings of the Catholic faith. She holds her students and colleagues accountable to the Catholic faith and encourages decisions to be made in accordance with Christ’s teachings. She does all this while always being a source of joy and optimism. She is simply one of those Catholic “bright lights” in the school who lives the faith and watches to make sure that the school is remaining faithful to its mission.
 
Dushani is also very active in her parish. Her former associate pastor writes the following about the candidate: “As an active member of St Barnabas church, the candidate continues to have excellent rapport with the youth of that parish.”
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​2021 - Diane Fiaschetti Chieco (YCDSB)

Diane has been teaching since 1997 and has a taught a variety of grades and subjects at the elementary level. Diane truly represents what it means to be a Catholic teacher. She openly professes her faith to her students and strives to teach the beauty and truth of the faith to them. She accomplishes this through a variety of classroom activities such as a saint research project, watching videos like the Miracle of Fatima and even painting icons. She is also involved with the school’s Luke 4:18 club which coordinates a variety of activities to support Catholic charities.  How fitting that on the very day she was presented with the award, the Gospel Acclamation was from Luke 4:18 reminding us all that: “The Lord sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor and to proclaim liberty to captives.” 

​Diane demonstrates every day, through her sincerity, enthusiasm, knowledge and personal commitment to the Catholic faith, that faith not only moves mountains but students as well.
Mother Teresa often reminded us that “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” Diane’s daily witness to the faith in her own classroom may seem to be just one small thing, but the great love of faith in Jesus Christ and His Church which she shares with her students is a great thing for Catholic education and a model for all Catholic teachers. 

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​​2020 - Susan Almonte, Vice Principal (Mary, Mother of God Private Catholic School)

Sue is a devoted Catholic educator who is filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. In an extraordinary way, she lives out her calling abundantly, dedicated to nurturing the minds and hearts of students aged Kindergarten to grade 12. She does this not only as a classroom teacher, teaching French, but also as a school administrator--Mary Mother of God School's vice principal.
In the classroom, Sue is full of knowledge and energy as she furnishes students with the tools to speak Canada’s other national language.

Sue exemplifies the important qualities needed to assist in the running and operation of a private school: wisdom accompanied by humility and a willingness to listen carefully to her fellow teachers and students. 

Sue is very well formed in her Catholic Faith. As a member of the Focolare movement, she embodies the movement’s philosophy: to serve others in love. Bringing God to others requires patience, kindness, gentleness and understanding, which Sue possesses in abundance. It must be noted that bringing God to others does not require us to accept error. No; rather, through holding fast to the TRUTH that God has revealed to us, in both word and deed, others come to see God more day by day. Deeply formed in her faith, Sue is steeped in this life-giving truth, and one need only to observe her, work alongside her, or be taught by her to “read the Gospel”, as a result. Sue has made many sacrifices for love of her students, the school, and its mission, and therefore is more than worthy to be recognized in this way and to receive the 2020 Jean Baptiste De La Salle Award.


​2019 - Ulrike Licht, Primary Teacher (TCDSB)

Ulrike (Uli) played a pivotal role in reconnecting her school community with their parish after years of limited interaction. She currently serves as liaison between school and parish coordinating liturgies and masses. She composed their school song which she dedicated to their name’s sake and patron: St. Joseph. On an annual basis, Uli runs the ‘Star Singer’ Epiphany event for her entire school community. She models each and every day for the children in her class what it means to be a follower of Christ through daily prayers and scripture readings. On occasion, students in her kindergarten class have been prepared for and have received the sacrament of Baptism. In these celebrations, each child in the class has a specific role, thus creating a beautiful and engaging experience that leaves a deep impression on young and old.
 
In addition to modelling for her students, she provides a dedicated evangelical example of a Catholic Educator par excellence to her colleagues. Beyond her steadfastness as a teacher at St. Joseph’s, she lives out her Catholic faith through her vocation as a parent raising her four children in the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.

2018 - Jocquim Alphonso, Secondary Teacher (YCDSB)

2017 - Nadia Toto, Secondary Math  (DPCDSB)

2016 - PROFESSOR JANINE LANGAN, CHRISTIANITY AND CULTURE (UNIVERSITY OF ST. MICHAEL’S COLLEGE, UOFT)


​2015 - Vinci Angelone, Primary Teacher  (TCDSB)

2014 - Rado Krevs, Senior Science Teacher (TCDSB)

2013 - Francis Hill, Philosophy Teacher (YCDSB)

2012 - Steve Dequintal, Religion and Chaplaincy (TCDSB)