To honor Teri Dwyer for her upcoming retirement at the end of July as the founding principal of St. Raphael School in Rockville that opened in 2006, and as the director of the St. Raphael Nursery School since 1990, the nursery school’s staff gave her a signpost with a personalized green street sign, “TERRY DWYER DR,” that was displayed outside her office. And what a drive it’s been for that Catholic educator.
“I’ve had a really blessed life,” Dwyer said in a June 5 interview, two days before the last day of school.
That morning, she stopped by the school and parish’s Trumpet Room, where as part of St. Raphael’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Week, students excitedly displayed special projects they had created with recyclable materials while adding electricity, including a roller coaster made of cardboard tubes and boxes, a model White House, and a giant black spider with glowing red eyes.
“Friday is our last day. When other schools pack, this is what we do. We keep stretching and imagining and keep them enthusiastic about learning. It’s a really fun way to end the year,” she said.
Four days earlier, she had been honored at a Mass of Thanksgiving celebrated at St. Raphael Church by Father Michael Salah, the pastor, and by two previous pastors who had worked with her, Msgr. Michael Wilson and Father Jim Meyers, who are both retired now.
An overflow congregation of between 700 and 800 attended the Mass and reception that followed in the courtyard outside the school, including parishioners and families she had met while leading St. Raphael School and its Nursing School and also coordinating the parish’s Baptism program over the years.
The altar servers and choir members were students from St. Raphael School, and Dwyer’s family members, including her grandchildren, brought up the offertory gifts at the Mass. Teri Dwyer and her husband Dick have three adult children and seven grandchildren. Dick Dwyer, who is now retired, had been a submariner in the Navy and worked as a civilian for the Department of Defense and as a contractor for Leidos.
Father Salah presented a certificate of retirement to Teri Dwyer, in recognition of her outstanding dedication during 34 years of service to St. Raphael School and the parish’s nursery school. The certificate noted, “You brought the light of Christ to so many children and families.”
Teri Dwyer became director of the St. Raphael Nursery School in 1990, when her youngest daughter, Meghan, was beginning the program as a 3-year-old. “Meghan and I went in together,” she said. Thirty-four years later, when Dwyer was completing her final year leading St. Raphael School and the nursery school, three of her grandchildren were students – Meghan’s children in nursery school and in the first and second grade.
While she led the St. Raphael Nursery School, it expanded when Msgr. Wilson was the pastor there, and it began offering a full-day schedule and included learning opportunities in science, fitness and nutrition and a Spanish fiesta for the young children. The nursery school had begun at the parish in 1969, initially as a play-based program.
Dwyer said the St. Raphael Nursery School offered a loving environment and the first experience in education for many of the children, and parents at the parish “wanted to stretch it.”
When Father William Finch was pastor there, Saint Raphael School opened in 2006 with 31 students in kindergarten and the first grade. “It was a tremendous leap of faith,” said Dwyer, who became the Catholic elementary school’s founding principal while continuing to direct the parish’s nursery school. As she completed her final school year there, St. Raphael School had 225 students in the kindergarten through the eighth grade, and the St. Raphael Nursery School had 115 young students.
In 2009, Father Finch died of a heart attack on Holy Thursday, and Father James Meyers later became the pastor there. As St. Raphael School’s enrollment expanded, a new school building was needed. Dwyer noted that students donned hard hats and had shovels for the ceremonial groundbreaking, and when the building opened in 2011, they carried their desks and moved themselves into their classrooms.
Dwyer said witnessing St. Raphael School’s first eighth grade graduation in 2014 was “amazing.” She noted that one of the themes that year was “Living the Dream.”
For Dwyer, leading a Catholic nursery school and elementary school was a natural progression in her life’s journey. She had been raised in a devout Catholic family in Philadelphia and attended Catholic grade school, high school and college, earning a bachelor of arts degree at Immaculata College in Pennsylvania and a master’s degree in education from Marymount University in Virginia. She taught fourth grade at St. Cyril’s School in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania, and the third, sixth and eight grades at St. James School in Falls Church, Virginia.
“I really believe we do have the obligation to share the Good News and spread the faith,” Dwyer said, adding, “If you teach kids about a loving God, it’s contagious, and they spread it to their families. Kids need to know God loves you right now, unconditionally.”
Twelve years after the founding of St. Raphael School, Teri Dwyer was named as the Archdiocese of Washington’s 2018 Distinguished Principal of the Year. In an interview then, she said, “It’s a real joy to be here at St. Raphael’s… It has been a phenomenal privilege to be a part of the growth and future of the Church… It is really exhilarating to watch a new class come in each year… and then staying and watching them go as strong, confident Catholic young men and women.”
During Catholic Schools Week in January 2019, Dwyer was named as a recipient of the Lead, Learn, Proclaim Award from the National Catholic Educational Association, a national honor that recognizes outstanding achievements in Catholic education.
“It was gratifying,” she said, noting that the honor recognized her work in helping to found and develop St. Raphael School. “(It was) about creating something, envisioning what could be and making it happen.”
In the fall of 2019, students at St. Raphael School filed quietly outside for what they thought was a routine fire drill, but they erupted in shouts of joy when Teri Dwyer surprised them with the news that St. Raphael School was chosen as a recipient of the 2019 National Blue Ribbon Schools Award from the U.S. Department of Education.
St. Raphael School received that honor in the first year that the school’s staff applied for it.
At that celebration, blue confetti shot was shot in the air, and students were given “Number One” foam fingers, and students and teachers danced to songs including “We are Family.”
Addressing the school community, Dwyer said, “We are so proud. It started with you. We have the best kids, the best families, the most amazing staff.” She also said that support from the parish has played a big role in the school’s success.
Through the years, five teachers at St. Raphael School have received Golden Apple Awards from the Archdiocese of Washington for teaching excellence and dedication to Catholic education.
In an interview, Dwyer said one of the greatest blessings during her years there came with the return to normalcy after challenging times like the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the Beltway sniper incidents the next year, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 that initially caused schools to close their doors and pivot to online learning.
“Once you got in the building with the kids, everything was upbeat and positive,” Dwyer said. “They (students) are always in the now. What a gift that is, (when) you leave everything else behind.”
On Aug. 1, Taylor Cotting will begin serving as the new principal of St. Raphael School. She earlier taught for four years there, as a kindergarten teacher and as a reading and math enrichment teacher. After earning a master’s degree in special education from Catholic University, Cotting taught special education in Montgomery County’s public schools for the past 10 years.
“She’s ready to come here,” Teri Dwyer said. “She’s got the heart of St. Raphael School. It’s hard to give your keys to someone when you were part of building a school. She gets the St. Raphael difference. She’ll keep the legacy going.”
St. Raphael Parish and its school and nursery school are named for the Archangel Raphael mentioned in the Bible’s Old Testament Book of Tobit, and the altar at the church includes marble sculptures of the St. Raphael and his fellow angels St. Michael and St. Gabriel. The name of the parish and school’s Trumpet Room reflects its patron saint. Students of the month there are designated as Angels (grades kindergarten through the fifth grade) and Archangels (sixth, seventh and eighth graders). A photo in the program for her Mass of Thanksgiving showed Teri Dwyer smiling and standing between two outstretched angel’s wings. The accompanying text noted, “The time has come for Teri to spread her own ‘angel wings’ and enjoy the view that only retirement can provide!”
Dwyer said that in her retirement, she is especially looking forward to visiting her grandchildren in the Washington area and in Boston and Florida. In a letter in the Thanksgiving Mass program, she wrote, “To spend 34 years in a place I love, surrounded by people I love, is like a dream come true. St. Raphael is home for me, my husband, our kids (and) our grandkids. It was an honor to be part of the St. Raphael story, and I trust it will shine bright for many decades to come!”
