As we wait in joyful hope, it’s time for our year-end gift to you, highlighting a few memorable moments from this year’s Think. Pair. Share. conversations, as we talked all things modern education with some of the best minds—and hearts—in the field. Thank you to our listeners, the team at the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Alliance for Catholic Education, and of course to our guests: Fr. Nate Wills, CSC, Kati Macaluso, Alec Torigian, and Taylor Kelly. We look forward to continuing the conversations in 2024!

From following in Rev. Edward Sorin, C.S.C.’s clarinet playing footsteps, to leading others in the mission to educate by embracing one’s belovedness and radiating it out to a world in need Taylor Kelly, an associate director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame, discusses her role walking alongside others as they discover their capacity for human flourishing and spreading joy to others, as well as the Laetare Medal, the Holy Half Marathon, and being a member of “The Oldest Band in the Land.”

From Fr. Ted Hesburgh hand-in-hand with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to providing radical accompaniment, opportunity, and formation to students, in order to help enable their fullest flourishing Alec Torigian, national coordinator for ACE’s Pursuing Achievement Through Higher Education initiative, discusses his role walking with middle to high school aged students on their educational journey while working in concert with the Church to close the opportunity gap in this country, as well as ultimate frisbee, Larry Bird and the Intentionality Brothers, and regilding or “regoldenizing” the Golden Dome.

From the Grotto and St. Bernadette to Breen-Phillips Hall and Coach Leahy, envisioning a future for Catholic schools that fully integrates faith formation with the disciplines, increases academic rigor, and deepens clinical partnerships for the betterment of all students Dr. Kati Macaluso, the academic director for ACE Teaching Fellows, discusses her new role working alongside faculty in service to teachers who said yes to bringing young students to wholeness in the image of a God who loved them into being, as well as dorm trivia and Notre Dame’s unofficial G.O.A.T. leprechaun.

From seminary life in Old College and full house Masses at Keough Hall, to leading team prayer in the storied locker room of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Fr. Nate Wills, CSC, director of the Alliance for Catholic Education’s Blended Learning Initiatives and faculty in the Mary Ann Remick Leadership Program, discusses his vocation within a vocation, empowering Catholic school teachers and leaders to use the tools of technology for greatest impact, as well as hearing the Pope’s call in person, ND fun facts, and chatting with Delilah.

Our year-end compilation of a few fun and memorable moments from this year’s conversations, as we talked all things modern education with some of the best minds—and hearts—in the field. Thank you to our listeners, the team at the Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Alliance for Catholic Education, and of course to our guests: Fr. Lou DelFra, CSC, Nicole McNeil, Nikhit D'Sa, Katy Lichon, John Staud, Fr. Joe Carey, CSC, Kate Schuenke-Lucien, Matt Kloser, Andrea Christensen, Will Newkirk, and Gina Svarovsky. We look forward to continuing the conversations in 2023!

From Thanksgiving family traditions like tropical turkey, secret stuffing, and pleasant pumpkin rolls, to becoming agents of change by building empathy and designing pathways through STEM and engineering to make the world better Dr. Gina Svarovsky, founding faculty director of the Center for Broader Impacts and associate professor in Notre Dame’s Center for STEM Education, discusses feeling empowered by the engineering design process to research, discover, and build solutions, as well as gears as art forms, raccoons as pets, and gratitude at Thanksgiving.

From jack-o-lantern tales and top-o-the-chart treats, to the authentic power of truth and healing in the Indigenous experience Will Newkirk, Director of the American Indian Catholic Schools Network, discusses standing together as co-conspirators of hope—at the intersection of Indigenous culture and Catholic identity—looking to the future by witnessing, sharing, and celebrating stories, as well as candy corn’s mixed upside and Star Trek’s spooky role in Halloween lore.

From coffee ice cream and hoagies, submarines, or po’boys, to how designing instruction that optimizes motivation over memorization in the classroom also optimizes learning. Dr. Andrea Christensen, Director of Education, Schooling and Society, shares why teaching her students is the privilege of her life and how we all have a role to play in affecting positive change in schools, as well as, celebrating punctuation marks, talking like a pirate, and wishing every day was National Literacy Day.

From banter, bits, and doing it all for the music and the fans, to the animating power of STEM education as a force for good in the world Dr. Matt Kloser, founding director of the Center for STEM Education, shares how “The Story of Science” is an unfinished narrative we can all help write, as well as, S’more Than Coffee playing tennis with John McEnroe, and closing out the show on keyboards with Bruce Springsteen.