Patricia Gonzalez, a pre-kindergarten teacher at Sacred Heart School in Washington, D.C., and who treats her students to imaginative learning experiences on “Fun Friday,” had a surprise Monday on April 22.
Gonzalez, who is known affectionately as Ms. Paty, walked into the school theater, where upon her arrival, Sacred Heart’s 225 students, joined by teachers, staff and guests, cheered loudly for her, waving golden-colored pom-poms, and with some holding cut-outs of golden apples.
“Sacred Heart School, we have a Golden Apple winner!” said Elise Heil, the school’s principal.
Vicky McCann, the assistant superintendent for advancement and marketing in the Catholic Schools Office of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, congratulated Gonzalez for being a 2024 Golden Apple Award-winning teacher.
The Golden Apple teachers, who will be honored at a May 16 dinner, will each receive a golden apple and a monetary award of $5,000 from the Donahue Family Foundation, which sponsors the annual award for teaching excellence and dedication to Catholic education.
Standing on stage joining the cheers and waving pom-poms were Ms. Paty’s young students, while older students held a banner celebrating the teacher’s award. Family members handed a bouquet of flowers to the smiling teacher. Gonzalez is the lead pre-kindergarten teacher for 3-year-olds at Sacred Heart School and is the department head for the Early Childhood Education Program there.
When asked how many of the students there had been taught by Ms. Paty, nearly all of the students raised their hands.
“She brings them into school with so much love,” said Heil.
In an interview just before the surprise assembly, Sacred Heart’s principal praised Gonzalez, saying, “She’s the best of the best… She has an endless font of joy and creativity that she brings to the classroom. She teaches our youngest learners. She makes children’s first school experience so memorable and happy.”
In a letter nominating Gonzalez for the Golden Apple Award, Heil noted how on one Fun Friday, the pre-kindergarten teacher transformed her classroom into a camping adventure complete with a tent, with students pretending to roast marshmallows over a make-believe fire made of colored tissue paper, fishing for letters in a makeshift river, and gazing at stars on the ceiling.
On another Fun Friday, Gonzalez’s classroom was converted into a pretend gym for a fitness day, with a makeshift treadmill, yoga mats for exercises and lessons on healthy eating.
Another time, students in her class filled a 6-foot-tall Noah’s ark with their favorite animals. During the school year, her students join a procession to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and participate in a diaper drive around Christmas time to support a local crisis pregnancy center.
In a reflection on her work as a Catholic school teacher, Gonzalez wrote, “I view this profession not merely as a job, but as a sacred vocation entrusted to me by God.”
Noting that her goal is to help her young students not only excel academically, but also grow spiritually and morally, Gonzalez added, “In my PreK-3 classroom, I find inspiration in the creative and storytelling methods employed by Jesus in his ministry. Just as Jesus conveyed profound truths through parables and engaged with people through everyday experiences, I harness the power of storytelling and play-based learning to captivate young minds and hearts.”
Her favorite parable, the story of the Good Samaritan, “teaches 3-year-olds the importance of kindness and compassion,” wrote Gonzalez. “By infusing creativity into my lessons, I aim to instill in my students a sense of wonder, curiosity and joy in discovering their faith.”
At the Golden Apple assembly, Heil noted, “If you had Ms. Paty, you know school is about fun, not just on Fridays,” and she thanked Gonzalez for being part of the Sacred Heart School family.
At the ceremony, Gonzalez received congratulations in English and felicidades in Spanish. Sacred Heart School, which is one of four Catholic elementary schools in Washington that are part of the archdiocese’s Consortium of Catholic Academies, provides a bilingual education in English and Spanish to its students.
Also at the gathering, Beth Strader, a middle school English teacher there, thanked Gonzalez for her everyday example of faith, reflecting how Jesus welcomed children. “At Catholic school, we teach religion, but we live religion, too,” she said.
In a letter recommending Gonzalez for the Golden Apple Award, Father Emilio Biosca Aguero, a Capuchin Franciscan who serves as the pastor of the Shrine of the Sacred Heart, commended her for “fostering the spiritual growth of our youngest learners” and for “instilling a strong foundation of faith in their lives.”
The priest noted how Gonzalez is an active member of Our Lady Queen of the Americas Parish in Washington, where she has served as a catechist, lector and Eucharistic minister. “Patricia’s faith is not just a Sunday obligation but a guiding force that permeates her daily life,” the priest wrote, adding, “We are truly blessed to have such a fantastic educator and role model shaping the hearts and minds of our children here at Sacred Heart.”
Asked about the greatest blessing of her work, Gonzalez said, “The children, they need a lot of love, (and) a place to go where they feel safe and part of a family.”
Gonzalez’s family members at the celebration included her husband, Anibal Marchena; their daughter Emely, who is 25, and their son Eduardo, who is 21, along with her parents Edy and Ramon Gonzalez.
“We are so surprised. We feel so proud,” said Anibal Marchena, who noted that their family immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic in 2013, and that teaching is not his wife’s original profession. She graduated with a degree in internet technology. Marchena said that his wife’s teaching life is marked by her “dedication and love for the kids.” That point was echoed by their daughter, Emely Marchena, who said, “She loves teaching her little kids.”
Gonzalez began teaching at Sacred Heart School as a kindergarten instructional aide in 2015, and since 2017 she has been the lead Pre-K3 teacher there.
In letter recommending Gonzalez for the Golden Apple Award, Grace Bogosian Davin – the intervention specialist at Sacred Heart School who was recognized as a Golden Apple teacher in 2019 – said she admired her colleague’s hard work and dedication as a fellow teacher, and now she experiences that as a parent, while her son Beau is in Gonzalez’s pre-kindergarten class.
Ms. Paty places God at the center of everything she does, Bogosian wrote, adding, “She ensures that her classroom is a place where children learn not only academic subjects, but also how to love each other as Jesus did.”
After learning that Bogosian’s son and other students were fascinated by dinosaurs, Gonzalez created a special unit on those prehistoric creatures.
“Her joy and enthusiasm for teaching is really contagious,” Bogosian said in an interview before the surprise assembly. “She makes learning exciting for kids,” she added, noting that her son “is so excited to come to school each day.”
Gonzalez gives parents detailed updates on what their children are learning, Bogosian said, noting, “Then we feel a part of it.”
Another parent, Lorena Lazo – the human resources manager for the Consortium of Catholic Academies – said her son Logan who is in Gonzalez’s pre-kindergarten class “says Ms. Paty is his favorite teacher, and he loves her.”
After the excitement at the surprise assembly, Gonzalez returned to her classroom and had story time with her students. She sat in a rocking chair and read a book in Spanish to the children, laughing and reacting dramatically to the unfolding story, and having a give-and-take with her students who sat on the floor listening intently.
Later, she led them in reciting a prayer in Spanish, and as they finished the prayer, the small children shouted, “Amen,” and Gonzalez responded, “Muy bien!” (“Very good!”)
In her reflection on being a Catholic school teacher, Gonzalez wrote, “I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve as a teacher at Sacred Heart School, a bilingual school that embodies the values and teachings of the Catholic faith. Working in this diverse and inclusive environment allows me to integrate my devotion to the Catholic faith with my passion for education, as I strive to nurture the next generation of our Church to be fully bilingual and inclusive of all of God’s children.”
The Sacred Heart teacher known for fun Fridays and imaginative, faith-filled teaching throughout the week, where her students learn about Jesus’s parables and also about dinosaurs, summarized her work, noting, “Through my role as a teacher, I am committed to fostering a community of love, understanding and respect, where every student is valued and supported in their journey of academic, social, emotional and spiritual growth.”
