DeLozier always wanted to be a religion teacher.
John DeLozier – Religion
The theology department adds a new member to their community in the form of Mr. John DeLozier. DeLozier has a passion for faith and hopes to share that with the BSM community.
DeLozier was raised in St. Michael, Minnesota. He majored in education at University of St. Thomas and, through a graduate program at Notre Dame, he taught for two years in Santa Clara, California. During this same time he took classes at Notre Dame in the summer and at the end of those two years he received his master’s degree in education.
DeLozier always felt a calling to be a religion teacher, and BSM gives him the opportunity teach and share his faith. At BSM he can express his passion for his faith and show others how it has guided his life in a positive way. “I knew from the get-go I wanted to be a theology teacher, and if I was going to pursue a career in education, it would be in theology,” DeLozier said.
His primary goal as a Catholic educator is to help people understand their faith and its power. “I went to Catholic school with different people who didn’t really understand their faith, and they didn’t take it seriously enough. I saw becoming a high school theology teacher as a way to help with that problem; to help people to not just view their faith as another subject, but as something they can actually live out. It can be something that impacts their lives,” DeLozier said.
DeLozier wants every student to recognize the power of faith, its effects, and the overlooked aspect of joy it can bring a person. “A life of faith is a joyful adventure, not something that’s boring, not something that’s static, but that giving your life over to Christ means that you get to be more fully yourself and more fully who God made you to be,” DeLozier said.
With a background in wrestling, DeLozier also joins the BSM community as the assistant wrestling coach. “I am excited to become involved in wrestling, it should be fun to have an active role in a BSM sport,” DeLozier said.
Em Paquette wears no makeup
The hardest thing for me during this assignment was to stay positive and be myself. For the past six years, my security blanket has been my 30-minute morning routine of mascara, concealer, and foundation, and without it, I found myself looking at the floor, avoiding eye contact, and feeling completely naked. This week was a moment I had been fearing for almost half of my life, a week in which I would have no protection from the judgmental hallways of high school.
From an early age, I learned that as a woman in modern society, the definition of beauty wasn’t your physical character, but rather what you could do to cover it up. I had adapted to that, becoming almost dependent on my products. While makeup boosted my self-esteem, it trapped me to never be able to leave my house without it. As I tried to end my dependency, the hardest day was most definitely the first. Even though I was taking out a half-an-hour of makeup from my routine, I still left the house late. Most of my morning was well spent standing in front of the mirror, not able to leave the small room that consumed all of my fears and doubts.
On that first day, my thought process was all over the place, and it became noticeable to my friends. “She was on edge and nervous all day, you could see her eyes flickering from one person to the next, wondering if they had noticed,” senior Jack Gables said. As the day had gone by though, I had seemed to forget about it. Until that is, when I went to the bathroom and was quickly reminded how different I looked.
While my week was full of negatives, whenever I found a positive it surely brightened my day. After a few days, my mind began to forget the bareness of my face. The days became easier, and I was able to sleep in later and have no issue leaving on time anymore. Before, it had been a burden to perfect my makeup, but now it was just the ease of slipping out of my bed and walking out the door within 20 minutes.
Yet, I still dealt with the worries and fear of what people thought of me, which all flashed back to one memory from sixth grade, which was the last time I had ever gone to school bare, when a kid laughed at how tired I looked. Yet this week, no matter how tired I looked, or how insecure I got, my face stayed bare. This week wasn’t just something for the newspaper, I did this for myself, and I dare any person out there who is insecure like I am to do the same. I dare you to go bare for a week, show the world who you really are, human.