These are exciting times for two alumni of the LMU School of Education’s Partners in Los Angeles Catholic Education (PLACE Corps), who are working and studying in Santiago, Chile, and Rome, Italy. PLACE Corps is a nationally recognized Catholic teacher service corps where members earn a master’s degree and teaching credential while serving as full-time teachers in primarily under-resourced Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Diocese of Orange, and Diocese of San Bernardino. During their two-year commitment, PLACE Corps members live with one another in intentional community while exploring and strengthening shared values rooted in Catholicism, and providing inclusive experiences with a commitment to social justice.
Santiago, Chile
Amanda Klasila, MA ’17, a member of PLACE Corps’ Cohort 15, is currently living and teaching in Chile as part of the Alliance for Catholic Education in Chile (ChACE), a post-graduate program that provides teachers who have a master’s degree with the opportunity to teach English as a Second Language in Santiago. Diana Murphy, PLACE Corps director emeritus, notes that Klasila is at least the fifth PLACE alum to participate in ChACE, a highly competitive program established in 2000 by the University of Notre Dame in partnership with Santiago’s St. George’s College.
As a PLACE Corps member, Klasila taught full-time at Our Lady of Lourdes in Los Angeles, where she continued to teach for two years after she graduated from the program before joining ChACE.
“PLACE Corps laid my foundation as an educator,” Klasila says. “PLACE offered the education and support to help me make deep connections with my school and diocese. Through it, I built confidence as a teacher. I feel prepared to teach students who do not natively speak English because of the strong pedagogy I learned and practiced. It has also instilled in me a profound appreciation for building community, especially when faced with difficult challenges, like teaching for the first time or living and teaching abroad.”
Klasila’s ChACE experience began in August 2019 with six weeks spent in Quito, Ecuador — including a week in the Amazon — taking intensive Spanish-language lessons while living with host families and traveling through Ecuador on weekends. Upon arriving in Santiago at the end of September 2019, Klasila and her fellow ChACE members were partnered with families attending St. George’s College. They spent three months observing English classes while getting to know the students and the school’s culture, in preparation for teaching in the school year beginning in March 2020. Klasila says she has embraced the opportunity to experience education in another country and context while improving her ability to teach and communicate with students and families from a different language background.
Rome, Italy
In Rome, Brother Brandon Paluch, MA ’08, is currently studying at Seminario Chaminade, the international seminary for the Society of Mary (Marianists), in preparation for his diaconate ordination on January 11 — the next step toward Paluch’s ordination to the priesthood in 2020. Paluch is part of a group of 13 seminarians from nine countries across five continents who are studying together in Rome for three years. As a student at the Jesuit-run Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, Paluch is in a cohort of approximately 120 students from roughly 40 countries. In addition to theological studies, Paluch serves individuals on the margins as part of the program, while undergoing practical training in the various dimensions of priestly ministry.
“This international context is incredibly rich and is an education in itself,” Paluch says. “Being in Rome also affords us the opportunity to be in contact with the beginnings of Christianity, places where our forebears gave their lives in order to be faithful and to pass along the faith to us. Overall, it’s been an experience of a lifetime — enriching on more levels than I can express adequately in words.”
“PLACE Corps graduates are a tangible expression of the LMU mission of our commitment to the service of faith and the promotion of social justice,” said Antonio Felix, director of PLACE Corps. “It is inspiring to see how Amanda and Brandon continue to embody the values fostered in the PLACE Corps. It is through their ministry abroad, that they are able to give witness to their faith in action as leaders for social justice.”
Murphy also notes that Klasila and Paluch are typical of the exemplary work pursued by graduates of PLACE Corps.
“In my years as PLACE director, it was a humbling privilege to work with so many faith-filled young people who were dedicated to Catholic education,” Murphy says. “PLACErs are an amazing group who begin the program with great potential that is constantly nurtured. They develop into leaders who give back in ways that generate growth in others. Amanda Klasila and Brandon Paluch are exemplars of the myriad of program alumni who truly make the schools, the Church, and the world a better place.”