St. Ambrose Academy welcomes Clara Paloucek as a new junior high English and grammar teacher!
Clara is excited to dive into the St. Ambrose community, which she sees as a valuable asset to the local community, with our school’s emphasis on “deepening students’ faith, teaching traditional values, using classical methods, and forming the whole person.” She looks forward to applying her own love of literature and creative writing to spark a similar love for the written word, “to help students articulate their thoughts and gain life skills, and to guide them as they grow in their faith.”
After graduating from Ave Maria University, where she earned degrees in Communications and History with Honors, Clara attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison. There, she earned a masters in the Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture track of Communication Arts and is still discerning future post-graduate studies.
Studying rhetoric and how it can lead to Truth is a continued area of interest for Clara. She appreciates St. Augustine’s definition of rhetoric, “as a means of guiding souls to the truth that is God, that everything you say and do is partaking in this greater endeavor of truth and beauty and goodness.” As one of the core stages of classical education, this interest in rhetoric is well-suited for St. Ambrose’s model of education!
“Having teachers and staff who are dedicated to the mission of conversion of souls and leading souls to heaven,” makes the community at St. Ambrose a “beacon on the hill” in the Madison area. As such, she looks forward to applying this ‘education of the whole person’ mindset and her teaching experience from UW-Madison to a younger audience, at a critical point in their development.
During her time at UW-Madison, Clara held several faith-based and secular leadership positions, including at St. Paul’s Catholic Center, where she was on the core team for Graduate/Young Professional ministry and served as a member of the Board of Directors and as a member of graduate student organization within her masters program. She has also volunteered at Divine Mercy Academy, caring for toddlers and infants.
Outside of her academic pursuits and work, she enjoys reading, writing poetry and short stories. She is also passionate about creating/listening to music, especially playing Irish and classical music on the fiddle/violin for almost two decades. She’s also taught violin and fiddle lessons and recently visited Ireland for the first time, a long-awaited dream.
Please join us in welcoming Clara to the St. Ambrose Academy community!
