Syracuse, NY – Christian Brothers Academy in Syracuse has found a unique solution to help with the staffing shortage during the 2020-2021 school year. They reached out to alumni for help.
President for the school, Matthew Keough, said former students were the perfect answer because they were home. “Maybe they were home from college as a senior or working remotely from college, or maybe it’s their first job, and with what was going on economically and in universities, a lot of people were working from home,” he said. He looked at the current labor force, and what was best for their students. So, he started reaching out to alumni.
Emily Rivito is one of the alumnae he contacted. Rivito graduated in 2017 and attends Hamilton College in Clinton, and is a sociology major. She said getting the opportunity to teach students will help her in the future. “I feel like the need for social workers and just for other advocates, for students, for teachers, for all the other staff and parents in schools is so much more strongly needed now.”
Keough says having familiar faces in the school does help the students. “I think they like seeing the young alumni back.” He adds, “Some of them they remember when they were students here, some of them have seen pictures of them.”
According to Keough, they have about 20 alumni filling the positions. He said they are in good shape, thanks to the graduates who have stepped up.