PATH Program Empowers Tucson Youth

By Carissa Krautscheid 
 
Eighty middle school students recently completed a unique summer experience through PATH or Pursuing Achievement Through Higher Education. This program is an initiative of the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE), a post-graduate teaching program from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.  
 
Notre Dame has a long history of collaboration with the Catholic schools in Tucson. Several schools benefit from the presence of ACE teachers and many local principals have graduated from Notre Dame's Remick Program for educational leadership.  
 
One such graduate is Yvonne Chavez, the new principal at Saint John’s Catholic School in Tucson. Chavez, a graduate of the Remick Leadership Program, founded PATH six years ago. She collaborated with two formerly-ACE academies in Tucson, St. John the Evangelist Catholic School and Santa Cruz Catholic School. PATH supports young people from sixth grade into college. The first cohort included 20 sixth-grade students, who are now rising seniors in high school. PATH has grown to 80 middle schoolers, known as Pathfinders. Graduates of the three-year program continue to volunteer with PATH as Leaders In Training to assist intern teachers who are undergraduate college students from various disciplines and universities. 
 
Every week throughout the school year, the PATH Persistence Class is offered to middle schoolers at St. John and Santa Cruz to bolster hard and soft life skills including organization, self-advocacy, time management, and choosing the best fit for high school. Students attend field trips to local colleges such as Catholic University-Tucson, University of Arizona, Pima Community College. 

Then students can apply to the optional, fun, and free PATH Rising Summer Experience. Five days a week for five weeks, students attend sessions at St. Augustine Catholic High School that include hands-on activities, spiritual formation, athletics, social skills, academic enrichment, character formation, and college preparation. Friendships are formed between the two schools that last for years to come.  
 
Each day of the summer PATH experience concludes with a Making It Meaningful session. This includes skits on various behaviors and themes such as “God in all things,” a talk, and small group discussions. Every activity began in prayer with students responding, “Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God.” 
 
PATH provides life skills for students of all ages. College students serve as the teachers during the summer program. They also attend a two week on-boarding with local mentor teachers and instructional coaches who teach them educational pedagogy, how to write lesson plans, activities, and classroom management. 
 
“The purpose of the program is to expose them to life after middle school and high school,” explained Chavez. 
 
At the end of summer celebration on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, the PATH participants and their families came to the Bishop Kicanas Pastoral Center for a mini-graduation. Students also showcased various elective skills they developed over the summer, including drama skits, legal debates, dancing, and engineering projects. 
 
After graduating from the three-year program, rising freshmen have the opportunity to attend a five-day trip to the University of Notre Dame. During that time, these students will travel to Chicago, experience a college campus, attend classes, and sleep in the dorms. “We take them to Notre Dame so they can see themselves in college,” said Chavez. “PATH shows them what they need to know and do to get there. It opens their eyes to what’s out there and what they are capable of.” 

Two rising freshmen, Susanna and Isaiah, are the children of Marco Leon, who serves as PATH’s Dean of Culture. “I am looking forward to the week at Notre Dame,” said Isaiah. “It will be a great college experience to see what the college schedule is like and what it’s like being away from our families.” 
 
PATH has provided Susanna, Isaiah, and all the other graduates of PATH with invaluable life skills that they will use no matter what careers or paths they choose. “PATH has been very fun,” said Susanna. “I’ve learned leadership skills, writing skills, how to speak clearly, and how to correct yourself.” Her twin brother shared, “PATH has helped us to learn what we need to remember and how to be prepared for the future.” 
 
This program has impacted hundreds of students, families, and teachers through personal and professional development and the promotion of Catholic education. 



Rising 6th Graders

Rising 7th Graders

Rising 8th Graders

Rising 9th Graders