Michele R. Neves, the new principal of the Upper School of Trenton Catholic Academy, Hamilton, admits a happy accident led her to choose Catholic education as a life-long mission and become a proponent of the value of hope in a child’s life.
“I never intended to teach; I thought I wanted to be a social worker,” the product of Catholic education admitted. Neves planned to pursue her degree in secondary education at Seton Hall University, South Orange, then apply to a master’s program at Temple University, Philadelphia. Instead, the undergrad found her purpose as a student-teacher in the urban setting of Paterson Catholic Regional High School.
“Needless to say, I fell in love with teaching almost immediately,” she remembered. “Little did I know I would indeed incorporate a lot of social work into my daily duties.”
Neves worked full-time at the high school and earned her master’s in educational administration with a concentration in urban curriculum from Jersey City State College.
During her tenure at PCRHS, she filled many roles: teacher, department chairperson, director of Christian Service and assistant principal for Academics and Student Affairs.
Neves’ career at PCRHS spanned over 30 years until the school’s closure by the Diocese of Paterson this past June.
Neves recognizes the similarities in the socio-economic backgrounds of the student bodies of TCA and Paterson Catholic. “This is where my mission has been. We have to bolster their egos and give them hope.
They may not get the message or the spirituality anywhere else,” Neves explained.
The educator once walked to work, but her new position at TCA requires a 70-mile commute from her Paterson home. A new hands-free cell phone allows her to put the time on the Turnpike to good use.
She and husband Antonio, a carpenter, attend St. Jude Parish in Mount Olive; Neves also enjoys attending Mass in the chapel of St. Joseph Hospital in Paterson.
Neves is excited about her new position in the Diocese of Trenton and plans to actively recruit new students to join the Trenton Catholic Academy family. “I think TCA has a very good future, and I’m used to going out and beating the bushes for kids,” she said.
In a recent letter to her faculty, the new principal wrote, “I want ‘hope’ to be the theme and tone of my tenure here.”
Neves has transported a banner from her former school which declares “Have hope, all you who enter” and plans to hang it in a hallway at TCA to be dubbed “Memory Lane.” She and Sister Dorothy Payne, TCA president, will fill the trophy cases with memorabilia from Trenton Catholic Academy and its predecessors, McCorristin and St. Anthony High Schools.
Neves is clear about her support of Catholic education: “Because Catholic education really does prepare the whole student for life as a faith-filled, productive adult and good citizen, I have been on the Catholic school bandwagon since the early days,” she told The Monitor.
“Young people need to be told every single day that God loves them; what an honor to be able to be that messenger of hope!”
