Golden Apple Award winner Christine Green came to teaching as a career in part out of her family’s respect for the vocation.

“It’s always been a part of my nature to teach,” said the assistant principal and middle school teacher at Our Lady of Mercy School in Potomac, Maryland. “To be able to teach and impart knowledge was always seen in my family as something honorable to do for a living.”

Green was one of 10 Catholic school teachers honored by the Archdiocese of Washington this spring with 2021 Golden Apple Awards for teaching excellence.

In describing what she finds most rewarding about teaching at Our Lady of Mercy, Green returned to the value of a family’s support for education, voicing her appreciation of the partnerships the school nurtures between parents and teachers.

“Making partnerships with parents has been so rewarding and valuable,” she said, noting that such collaboration has been key at Our Lady of Mercy throughout her time there. 

Green has taught at Our Lady of Mercy School since 1988, upon her return to Maryland after several years during which she taught at another school named Our Lady of Mercy in Madison, Connecticut. The graduate of Trinity College (now University) started her teaching career at the now-closed Immaculata Dunblane Elementary School in Washington before moving to Connecticut.

At the Potomac school, she has primarily taught middle grades, though she has worked with younger students in after-school enrichment programs. For six years, she has split her day between teaching middle school and duties as assistant principal. After 33 years there, Green is now seeing the children of those earlier students enroll at Our Lady of Mercy. With those families, she said, “the partnerships are even tighter. The parents ask me questions and rely on me for suggestions and guidance about their children.”

She told the Catholic Standard that she considers the Golden Apple honor to be a recognition for the entire school, because of shared values and teamwork, paired with its Catholic underpinnings, as having helped her succeed. “I’m proud to be part of a faith-filled community,” she said. “Not many people can share their faith while at work, but we do.”

“Being able to teach in a Catholic school means we really provide both roots and wings,” she said. “We enable the students to be confident and successful.”

In his referral for Green for the award, the former pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, now-Bishop William Byrne of Springfield, Massachusetts, said she “is committed to academic excellence and Catholic identity. Her classroom is a model of calm joy. The younger faculty often turn to her for advice and mentoring. She is generous to all.”

Green cited the year-end “capstone” projects of this year’s graduates from Our Lady of Mercy as exemplifying why she teaches. She described one after another thoughtful essay on the topic of what had inspired or motivated the students through the difficult months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The students’ reflections showed “exceptional skill and poise” in articulating how the pandemic time has shaped them, she said.

Green said she was surprised to receive the award because “I know there is a plethora of highly qualified teachers in the archdiocese.” She accepted the honor “and this is really important – in the names of my colleagues on the staff at Our Lady of Mercy. Because we are a caring and collaborative community, due to the nature of our school…. We are supportive of our colleagues.”

Green is a member of St. John’s Parish in Columbia, Maryland.

 Nominees for the award are asked to submit applications and essays about themselves and their work to the archdiocese. The annual program honors 10 teachers among 91 schools for excellence in teaching and commitment to Catholic education. Nominations can be made by parents, students or colleagues. The process includes referrals for the award from school administrators and pastors, if a parish school is involved. Winners are chosen by an archdiocese-level selection committee made up of a former winner, a principal, a board member, a donor partner, a parent and, some years, a high school student. The award recipients receive a $5,000 prize, along with a golden apple and certificate. Information on the process for 2022 nominations will be released in January.

 The Golden Apple Award was established by the Donahue Family Foundation whose founders, Jack and Rhodora Donahue, sent their 13 children to Pittsburgh Catholic schools. They created the award to express their appreciation to Catholic school teachers. The foundation funds Golden Apple Awards in several dioceses and archdioceses.