As the second grade teacher at the Cardinal Hickey Academy in Owings, Maryland, Jacqueline Cowger prepares her students to receive their First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Each spring, she tries to attend all of her students’ First Holy Communions at the churches of the three sponsoring parishes of Cardinal Hickey Academy – Jesus the Good Shepherd in Owings, St. Anthony in North Beach and Jesus the Divine Word in Huntingtown.
And after those First Communions, when the children pose for a traditional group photo with their hands folded in prayer, with the girls wearing white dresses and veils and the boys wearing their Sunday best, Cowger as their proud teacher stands with them as they celebrate that milestone in their lives.
But on April 15, the tables were turned, and her second graders – this time wearing their school uniforms of red shirts and tan shorts or skirts – got to celebrate a milestone in her life, as they posed for a group photo with her waving gold and red pom-poms, after Jacqueline Cowger was named as one of 10 Golden Apple Award winning teachers in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington for this school year.
The Golden Apple teachers, who will be honored at a May 16 dinner, will each receive a golden apple and a monetary award of $5,000 from the Donahue Family Foundation, which sponsors the annual award for teaching excellence and dedication to Catholic education.
“It was very special to see the kids so excited for me,” said Cowger, who has taught second graders at the Cardinal Hickey Academy since 2012, and before that taught kindergarten at St. Matthias School in Lanham for 12 years.
After attending a meeting with Dawn Nazzaro, the principal at Cardinal Hickey Academy, and with Father John Dakes, the pastor of Jesus the Divine Word Parish in Huntingtown who works with Cowger in preparing the students for First Communion, the teacher walked to the gym for what she thought was an assembly on school safety. But as students cheered and waved the gold and red colored pom-poms, Nazzaro announced that Cowger was selected for the Golden Apple Award.
As in the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” there was someone behind the curtain. Joining the ceremony to congratulate the teacher were officials from the archdiocese’s Catholic Schools Office and several of her family members, including her husband, her mother and mother-in-law, her aunt, and her sister and nephew who came from New Jersey. Cowger’s daughter Marti Ann, a seventh grader at Cardinal Hickey Academy, was also there to congratulate her. Each of Cowger’s second graders lined up to present her with a carnation.
The Golden Apple teacher grew up in Prince George’s County as a member of St. Bernard’s Parish in Riverdale, graduating from that now-closed elementary school and then from Elizabeth Seton High School in Bladensburg.
In a reflection, Cowger wrote about how her family’s example of faith helped inspire her to become a Catholic school teacher.
“My faith and love of being a part of a Catholic school community is all I’ve ever known,” she wrote. “My grandfather helped lay the bricks that built my childhood Catholic church. My grandmother created the floral arrangements and decorated the church until her arthritic hands could last no longer. My sisters and I attended Catholic school from kindergarten through the 12th grade, while my mother volunteered at school, and my father coached CYO sports long after my sisters and I could play.”
Cowger added that, “My childhood made such an impression that I wanted to live my life spreading the word of God in service to others as a Catholic school teacher.”
In her reflection she also wrote, “As a teacher, I have faith that each student is unique and a special gift from God.”
Watching how her parents sacrificed to send her and her two siblings to Catholic elementary and high school inspired Cowger to provide a Catholic education to her daughter.
In a letter nominating Cowger for the Golden Apple Award, Cardinal Hickey Academy’s principal called her “a model Catholic school teacher with outstanding leadership skills.”
Nazzaro noted that Cowger – who has a bachelor’s degree from Salisbury State University and a master’s degree from McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland – is qualified to teach any elementary or middle school grade, but “her passion is to teach second grade.”
The principal praised Cowger’s ability to connect with students and inspire a love for learning in them.
“She’s motherly in her teaching. She has a warm heart. She supports them all,” said Nazzaro in an interview, noting that her son Marcello, now a high school student, was in Cowger’s second grade class, and “he loved her.”
Second grade, in addition to being crucial for preparing children in Catholic school for the sacraments of Communion and Reconciliation, is also a critical year for children’s academic development, the principal said, explaining, “They’re learning to read at the beginning of second grade. At the end of second grade, they’re reading to learn. She does a great job with that.”
Nazzaro noted how Cowger encourages her young students to pray for and serve others. “She reminds them that Jesus is the center of our life, and to be more like Jesus,” the principal said.
Each spring, a First Communion Reunion Mass is celebrated at the end of the school year for the Cardinal Hickey Academy second graders, with the students again wearing their First Communion dresses and suits. Father Dakes offers a special blessing to the students who are not Catholic, so everyone is included in the celebration.
Praising how Cowger and the priest prepare the children for those sacraments, Nazzaro said, “They’re like a dynamic duo.”
In his letter recommending that Cowger receive the Golden Apple Award, Father Dakes noted he has witnessed the impact she has in preparing children to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation and their First Holy Communion.
He wrote that when they enter the Reconciliation room, they know why they are receiving the sacrament, the love offered by Jesus through the cross and resurrection, and how “God gives us another chance every time we turn back to Him.”
And when the Cardinal Hickey Academy second graders approach the altar on their First Holy Communion, “they know why Christ gave Himself to us and are excited to be receiving Him,” the priest wrote.
Attending each child’s First Holy Communion is a special experience for Cowger, who said, “It’s so exciting to see it through their eyes again. They’re so excited to receive (Communion), so happy.”
When asked how she feels about her students, Cowger said, “I love them. They’re like my kids. I love to watch them grow through the years.”
Her goal for her second graders, she added, is “to know that they’re loved, (and) for them to continue their walk with Jesus and to grow to be respectful and loving human beings.”
