Dave Archibald
1. What have you been up to since ACE?
After ACE I began teaching Theology and coaching at Marquette High School in Milwaukee. I have taught Church History, Morality, and Senior Seminar. I am currently the head freshman baseball coach and coached freshman football for two years, but recently accepted a new coaching position--this fall I will be the wide receivers coach at Wisconsin Lutheran College, a small Division 3 school in Milwaukee.
The last two years I played receiver for the Racine Raiders, a semi-pro football team. We played teams from seven different states and saw all different levels of competition--everything from former high school players to arena football players. Highlights were playing two games at fun stadiums--Northern Illinois University and the Metrodome. My Memphis roommates were all supportive of the team, and four of them saw games (Thomas and Seth, along with Steve Holte, in Indianapolis, Nellie in Milwaukee and Ang in Chicago).
Other than teaching and sports, I am enjoying time with family and friends in Milwaukee. My eighth niece or nephew is due in August. Each day brings many things to be grateful for.
2. What was special/interesting about ACE Memphis?
ACE X Memphis was an energetic group of people. There are many good memories. A special characteristic of the group was a great willingness of everyone in the house to go out of their way to help another. If someone was in need, others were always there.
3. Please share a memorable ACE Memphis experience.
A fun ACE experience that many other communities will also remember is the "Memphis in May" monsoon in 2004. There were about 30 people visiting us and going to concerts on the bank of the Mississippi River. After the second concert, a huge rainstorm came cruising in. We all had to walk about a mile, just to get to the streets and we were walking through a torrential downpour and tons of mud. Breaking up into small groups along the way, we all made it back to the house somehow, freezing and drenched. It was a fun and unexpected adventure.
Thomas with his nephew, Nicolas.
Thomas Bambrick
1. What have you been up to since ACE?
Right after ACE, I came to Notre Dame to start working for ACE as a pastoral staff member and to help coordinate the Notre Dame Task Force on Catholic Education. I was in charge of three ACE communities my first year (Mobile, Montgomery, and Pensacola) and six communities this past year (Baton Rouge, Biloxi, Jackson, Memphis, Nashville, and Plaquemine), so I have enjoyed traveling around to these different sites and embracing good people and good food. I have also enjoyed trying to change the world (literally) as part of the Task Force and as part of Notre Dame’s efforts to strengthen Catholic education.
Fortunately, I have had the opportunity to return to Memphis a number of times since leaving, the earliest trip taking place only about two months later. In August ‘05, we discovered that our house in Memphis had been broken into during the summer, so the new ACE 12s showed up to find a lot of things missing, including all the toilet paper, paper towels, cleaning supplies, etc., which we had collected for them at our end-of-the-year party as a way to welcome them to Memphis. Tony DeSapio (ACE 6 Memphis; Godfather of ACE Memphis) and I quickly got in touch with our fellow ACE Memphis alums, who generously sent money to help restock the Memphis house. Four days later, on Friday afternoon, Tony, Katie Cawley, Amy Seamon, Steve Holte, and I jumped in a van and drove down to Memphis. After assessing the house situation on Saturday morning, we went out to buy a number of helpful household items, and then helped the ACE 12s clean and set up the house. That evening, we introduced the new ACErs to some good Memphis BBQ and to some of the fun spots in the city (including Raiford’s, of course). We headed back to South Bend early Sunday morning, and thus began a beautiful biannual Memphis road trip, the second of which is slated for this coming August.
2. What was special/interesting about ACE Memphis?
When we first arrived in Memphis in 2003, we could barely walk through the main hallway because it was filled with stacks of toilet paper, paper towels, and all sorts of non-perishables. These items were gifts from all the local Memphis friends and faculty of the ACE 8s, which they were asked to bring to the ACErs end-of-the-year party as a welcome to us ACE 10s who would be arriving in August. This end-of-the-year/bring-a-gift party tradition was started by the first group of Memphis ACErs in ACE 6. I don’t think we bought toilet paper or paper towels until late spring of our first year in ACE.
The things I loved most about our ACE 10 community in Memphis (go figure) were our paired dinners. Each semester, we would have one Paired Dinner Night on which we would pair up and go out to eat at different restaurants. It was a great opportunity to connect with someone in the house who maybe we didn’t see as much because of differing schedules or with whom we just hadn’t sat down and had a quality conversation in a while. A few times we connected the Paired Dinner Night with a Community Fun Night, so that we split up for paired dinners and then gathered afterwards to do something fun together as a community.
3. Please share a memorable ACE Memphis experience.
Some of my favorite memories were when we would all get in the Beast (Angela’s classic minivan) to go somewhere as a community. One such memorable moment occurred on our first Sunday in Memphis when we decided to go to Mass together. Angela volunteered to drive, and all was going well until we discovered halfway down the entrance ramp to the highway that Angela had never really driven on a highway before; needless to say, that was an interesting and energy-filled experience. I also enjoyed another night when we jumped in the minivan and rolled down Summer Ave. to the Imperial Lanes, the oldest bowling alley in the city of Memphis, to have some fun bowling and mixing it up with the local Memphians.
Nellie Brennan1. What have you been up to since ACE?
My experience in ACE solidified my intention to remain in the field of education. While at Memphis Catholic High School, I became interested in issues of access and retention especially among low-income students and students of color. I headed back to Harvard to pursue a Masters degree in Higher Education, and I am now an Admission Officer at Brown University. I just moved back up to Boston and commute down to Providence, but I love working in a vibrant and diverse place where I feel among others who share my passions for trying to remedy the inequalities in education. I've been lucky to have a nice ACE Fellowship group in Boston, which keeps me connected to my faith and to issues in Catholic education. Lastly, after a long and arduous quest, Brandon and I have found a barbeque place in the Boston area that can at least hold a candle to real Memphis barbeque!
2. What was special/interesting about ACE Memphis?
I think the most special part about ACE Memphis was our community. I am certain that I am a better person for my relationship with each of my amazing roommates. Because we spent two years together, a real bond was forged. There were many times when I only made it through the day because one of them was there for me. But my favorite memories were the late night Frosty runs, our little friend Gus, Raiford's, "the Bach", marathon training, and the love and laughter that surrounded me for two years.
3. Please share a memorable ACE Memphis experience.
Where do I begin?! I think our record seven infestations (which varied from moths to mice to ants to cockroaches) where memorable. At school, my most memorable experiences were outside of the classroom - from coaching and running the concession stand to talking to students before and after school. It was wonderful to develop a relationship with students inside and outside of the classroom. I miss my students and my roommates, but I still carry them and my ACE experience with me in all that I do.
Katie Cawley1. What have you been up to since ACE?
For the past two years, I have worked as an Admissions Counselor in the Undergraduate Admissions Office at Notre Dame. I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience working in Admissions, and I am truly grateful for all of the skills gained, the lessons learned, and the people with whom I have worked. I am starting a new adventure this summer -- I am going back to teaching and moving back East! I will be living outside of DC in Silver Spring, Maryland (with Seth!), and teaching first grade at an all-boys, Catholic grade school called Mater Dei School. I am so excited to be back in the classroom and to be closer to family and friends.
2. What was special/interesting about ACE Memphis?
I loved that we were a self-contained community. From the beginning, everyone really bought into the whole ACE experience. We remained steadfast with the prayer nights, community dinners, and our weekly "power hour" of cleaning. Interesting facts about our Community before we were a Community: Seth was Katie's Huddle Mart manager during undergraduate years at Notre Dame. Thomas and Katie's fathers attended ND Law School together. Nellie and Thomas went to the same high school in Chicago.
3. Please share a memorable ACE Memphis experience.
We had three main ways of finding time to spend together. First, we did "Power Hour" of cleaning once a week. We would put on music (usually the boys would get to choose the music) and all thoroughly clean the house. Second, we did paired dinners with one another once a semester. Usually, we went to dinner with a roommate you had not seen or talked to for awhile. Last, we ate together three times a week and we cooked in partners. Someone was always the "Chef" and the other person was the "Sous Chef." This system allowed for great teamwork, conversation, and meals!
Another one of my favorite memories occurred at the end of our second year. We went to a teacher friend's cabin outside of Nashville for a community retreat. Despite our busy schedules, we planned a weekend-long retreat full of prayer, discussion, fellowship, and fun. It was a great way to end the two years.
Angela Clark (Lyzinski)
What have you been up to since ACE?
I currently teach 3rd grade at Shrine of the Little Flower elementary school in Royal Oak, Michigan. I love the school and am involved in the parish as well! I am married to Alex Clark, and our one-year anniversary is coming up in August. He's a first year lawyer with a big firm here in Michigan.
We're happy, healthy, and doing great. We both spend our free time running, and we're hoping to run some road races over the summer. I also love gardening and cooking. hahaha - I love to cook, and Alex loves to eat! It works out well! Over the summer I plan to travel to NJ to visit my family, and we have a family reunion and two weddings. Also, I'm planning to read, relax by our condo's pool, and shop while I have the time! I'll also be tutoring 3 kids during the summer - a first grader, third grader, and eighth grader. So I'll keep busy ☺
Seth Whetzel1. What have you been up to since ACE?
Immediately following my two years of ACE Memphis, I participated in the fourth year of the ACE Ireland Program with Don McClure, Kathleen Brogan, and Emily Byrne. After spending eight months in Ireland during my junior year I made the goal of returning for another stint, and living in Dublin allowed me to fulfill that goal, and provided me with a host of amazing opportunities
Living in Ireland helped me deepen old friendships, build lasting new ones, and create memories that will last a lifetime. I'm excited for my week vacation at the end of June where I will get to go back to Ireland for John O'Malley's (ACE 9 Pensacola and ACE Ireland 3) wedding, as well as see old friends and my old students.
When I returned from Ireland I moved back home to Maryland to join the staff of the Lasallian Volunteer Program. The LV Program office is located in the Christian Brothers Conference in Washington, DC, directly across from Catholic University. It's a wonderful service program that places close to 50 volunteers in some of the poorest schools and social service agencies in the United States. We have volunteers at 26 different work sites and 21 different communities. Similar to ACE, the three core values of the LV Program are Faith, Service, and Community. One of the most unique parts of the program is that our volunteers live in community with the Christian Brothers, the largest religious order of men in the world, founded by St. John Baptist De La Salle, and committed to serving the poor through education.
This summer I will be participating in the Lasallian Social Justice Institute in El Paso, TX that will focus on Border Issues and Immigrations. Highlights of the past year in addition to witnessing the amazing work of our Lasallian Volunteers and the Christian Brothers include recruiting our first two Lasallian Volunteers from Notre Dame in over a decade and working with the Center for Social Concerns to set up one of our Lasallian sites as an option for Notre Dame students completing Summer Service Internships.
I am now extremely excited to be moving into a new apartment in Silver Spring, MD, just outside of Washington, DC with my old community member, and dear friend, Katie Cawley, where we will be able to plug into the ACE Fellowship Group that is ever growing and strengthening in DC.
2. What was special/interesting about ACE Memphis?
What wasn't special about ACE Memphis? First and foremost: the community. I knew we were blessed to have an amazing community my first summer of ACE once I started to get to know Arch, Thomas, Katie, Nellie, and Ang, but after living in a very non-cohesive community in Ireland, and overseeing 21 different communities in the LV Program, I am even more grateful for the five wonderful people I was fortunate enough to call family for two years. I'm still amazed when I think back to how intentional we were for two years about cooking, cleaning, praying, and just spending time with and supporting one another. We swapped cooking partners each semester and shared meals 3 times a week. We even took the classic ACE Paired Walk to another level and had "Paired Dinners" once a semester. We religiously stuck to our "Power Hour" cleaning sessions where we would crank the music and scrub our old Midtown Memphis house top to bottom. And most importantly we stuck to our commitment to pray together as a community on a weekly basis, and the old adage "the family that prays together, stays together" was never more true than it was for us.
In addition to the community, Memphis is just an incredible place. The history, the music, the BBQ, the culture - there's so much to learn and soak in there. The Soul of Memphis really is tangible.
And of course, our students. I was blessed enough to work at Bishop Byrne Middle and High School with Thomas Bambrick, where we had the pleasure of teaching and coaching many of the same students, who were the motivating force in our lives. Without the students, we of course would never have been there in the first place, and it was the students that made it almost impossible to leave.
3. Please share a memorable ACE Memphis experience.
Oh - so many, where do I start? A few stick out:
Training for the 2005 ACE Marathon in Tampa. At one point all 6 of us were training, and I hardly ever remember doing a run by myself. Those long runs especially were such great times for community bonding. Crossing the finish line of the marathon hand in hand with Katie is a memory that still gives me goosebumps.
Hosting two wild and crazy end-of-the-year Memphis in May Parties. Two years in a row we hosted close to 50 ACErs for the first weekend in May to correspond with the 3-day music festival on the banks of the Mississippi River that is Memphis in May. I'll never forget watching Angela crack open a beer at 11:00 in the morning! I almost had a heart attack!
KILLZ: we had a roach killing competition between the guys in the house and also with the Brownsville Community! We killed HUNDREDS of roaches. My favorite killz were the two I found in the middle of night in Angela's cereal box the night after she had declared that her cereal tasted funny during breakfast.
Bon Jovi, Miller High Life, and Brawny Paper Towels. Enough said. It was all Bambrick's fault.
Those half hour drives to and from school every single day for two years with Thomas. We named my car Donnie in honor of our one-of-a-kind principal, and together, Seth, Thomas, and Donnie spent many, many hours together. We spent so much time together that Thomas and I dubbed each other Life Partners, consummating our monogamous asexual relationship! How I miss having the best discussion partner on the face of the planet for 30 minutes twice each day. What a blessing!