Your Catholic Neighbor: Bridget Martin
Local Catholic merges faith life with classroom

By Joyce Coronel, The Catholic Sun
June 7, 2007

Bridget Martin sits in a small chair, surrounded by books, charts and colorful posters. Her 19 kindergarten students at St. Francis Xavier Catholic School have just returned from a fire drill and are headed off to music class.

A pile of rocks heaped on a nearby table is one 5-year-old’s imaginative idea of what he’ll be having for lunch that day, and her volunteer classroom aide, younger sister Peggy Coch, reports on a “stick controversy” that took place during recess.

There’s never a dull moment in this kindergarten classroom, in which the Jesuit-inspired “Student Learning Expectations” are woven into teachable moments throughout the day. Martin creatively instructs the children in the five principles that embody Jesuit spirituality, among them being loving, intellectually competent and committed to justice.

Using well-loved fairy tales such as “The Three Little Pigs,” Martin presents the principles on a level that young children will understand.

“You teach them something, you say it over and over and it knocks you on your keister when you look over and see them teaching someone else,” Martin says with a smile. “They’re an extension of the lesson you’ve just given them.”

She’s spent her entire life living in a two-mile radius from the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church and school campus. The sixth of seven siblings, Martin was born at St. Joseph’s Hospital and educated at St. Mary’s grade school as well as St. Mary’s High School.

“ASU was a stretch for me,” she admits with a laugh. She, like many teachers, is continuing her education and works on a master’s degree on Friday evenings via the university’s satellite program.

Her own children are continuing the family tradition of staying close to home and close to the Church. Martin is the mother of three children, ages 9, 12 and 15, all of whom were born at nearby St. Joseph’s Catholic Hospital and attend Catholic schools.

The younger kids, Kieran and Mary, attend St. Francis Xavier and since the family home is just a couple blocks away, they walk to and from school together every day. Eldest son Liam attends St. Mary’s High School.

Martin says she always had a love for children, but that it grew even more after she became a mother herself.

“I know how precious each child is to the parents, especially the kindergarteners,” she said. She also knows that school can be a little scary for these young students.

“I know they’re terrified. I like being someone who can help them transition from the safety of home to the classroom.”

Martin is quick to point out that the kindergarten of today is different from that of years ago. It’s a full-day program in which the students are taught art, Spanish, computer, music and P.E.

“We’ve got oodles of requirements from the state and diocesan standards in every subject we have to teach,” Martin explains. “It’s not just playdough and paint anymore. We need to do those things for fine motor skills, but we need them to produce. They’ve got to learn to read and write.”

How does your Catholic faith affect your work?

I think my Catholic faith is my work. Every opportunity, everything that I do has stemmed from and is an extension of the faith that I was gifted with, that was brought to me from all the people that sacrificed.

Out of my mom’s seven siblings, there were three religious in her family: a monsignor, a Maryknoll priest and a Sister of St. Joseph who worked in an orphanage.

What do you most enjoy about your work?

The kids, I love the kids. They crack me up. Their love is so pure and everything they approach is so pure.