Ten Catholic school educators in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington were honored with the 2025 Golden Apple Award on May 15 for their excellence in teaching and dedication to Catholic education.
The annual award, now in its 17th year, is sponsored by the Donahue Family Foundation. Each recipient receives a $5,000 award, a golden apple keepsake, and a certificate of achievement in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the academic and spiritual formation of students.
Kelly Branaman, the Secretary for Catholic schools and Superintendent of Schools for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, opened the celebration by reflecting on the program’s longevity and the generosity that has made it possible. “With 17 years, that’s 170 teachers, and with checks of $5,000 each, that is $850,000,” she said. “We’re very blessed this evening.”
Branaman welcomed Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, and acknowledged his extensive educational background as a testament to the lifelong impact of dedicated teachers. “As educators, we know that we never truly understand the impact or the ripple effect our tiny mustard seed may grow into,” she said.
Cardinal McElroy – who returned to Washington after participating in the recent conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV before traveling back to Rome to attend the new pontiff’s inaugural Mass on May 18 – addressed the honorees, thanking them for their commitment to Catholic education and their role in forming students intellectually, morally and spiritually. Though his time in Washington was limited between the conclave and the papal inauguration Mass, he made a point to attend the ceremony, emphasizing how important it was for him to meet this year’s Golden Apple recipients personally and to celebrate the broader community of Catholic school educators in the archdiocese.
“You have distinguished yourselves not merely as mentors of the mind, but of the soul and the heart,” Cardinal McElroy said. He recalled the famous scene from the play “A Man for All Seasons,” in which St. Thomas More encourages a young man to consider becoming a teacher. When the young man questions whether anyone would notice, More replies: “You, your students, and God. Not a bad audience.”
“That’s what Catholic education is,” Cardinal McElroy said. “We don’t learn the virtues of Christ from a textbook. We learn them from people who live them, people like you.”
Msgr. Robert Amey, pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Rockville, Maryland, offered the evening’s invocation, thanking God for the educators gathered and asking that the award recipients continue to be sources of encouragement and inspiration in their ministry.
Branaman echoed those sentiments in her remarks following dinner. “Our teachers are not just educators,” she said. “They are role models, faith leaders, mentors, nurses, counselors, sometimes stand-ins for parents, and always cheerleaders for our students.”
Representing the 2025 award recipients, Shelly Taguchi, a prekindergarten teacher at Our Lady of Victory School in Washington, D.C., offered reflections on her vocation as a teacher in Catholic education.
“To share this reality with them, that they are profoundly loved by Jesus, is my deepest joy,” Taguchi said.
She described her classroom as a place where prayer is always welcome and where faith is lived out in everyday moments. “The floor is always open in my classroom for children who wish to pray,” she said. “We speak about Jesus as though He is their best friend.”
Taguchi spoke of her experiences teaching overseas in a country where Christians made up less than one percent of the population, and of the deep spiritual community she found there. She now finds similar joy in being able to speak freely about the Gospel and to integrate faith into every part of her students’ learning.
“I strive to create lessons that are engaging, differentiated, and full of joy, ensuring our Catholic identity is woven through every moment,” she said. “Whether we’re raising caterpillars or exploring snow, I want children to see the wonder of God’s creation and let their creativity flow freely.”
She added that she embraces the joyful mess that often accompanies hands-on learning. “I’m the teacher who doesn’t mind glitter, paint, or messy science experiments,” she said.
Taguchi emphasized that teaching is both a skill and a calling. “It requires a toolbox of skills, values, patience, energy, and of course, love,” she said. “Any effectiveness, any skills I possess, are because God strengthens me.”
Father Scott Hahn, pastor of St. Jerome Parish in Hyattsville, Maryland, offered the benediction. He thanked the educators for their role in connecting the life of the Church and home to the future of the world.
“What you’re doing is helping bridge that life at home, the life of the Church, to the world of the future,” he said.
In closing, Branaman thanked the many staff and volunteers who helped organize the event and congratulated the 2025 Golden Apple recipients.
“You are now part of a 17-year tradition and legacy of educators committed to the teaching mission of our Catholic Church,” she said.
Throughout the evening, speakers celebrated the special role that Catholic teachers play, nurturing faith, character, and intellect alike.
Cardinal McElroy reflected on that calling during his remarks.
“I’d often ask people, ‘Think of a virtue someone in your life taught you. Who taught you what compassion is? What mercy is?’ Most often, they would name a parent. But next on the list, always, were teachers,” the cardinal said. “Teachers mold souls. They help shape the heart. That’s what Catholic education is. And so, I thank you profoundly for being molders of hearts and souls.”
The 2025 Golden Apple Award recipients in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington are:
- Melissa Barr, a middle school social studies and language arts teacher at St. Mary’s School in Rockville, Maryland;
- Heather Campos, a kindergarten teacher at St. Jerome Academy, Hyattsville, Maryland;
- Mary Beth Cudd, a middle school math teacher at Little Flower School in Great Mills, Maryland;
- Becky Guerre, a first grade teacher at Father Andrew White, S.J. School in Leonardtown, Maryland;
- Alexandra Lopez, a Pre-K3 teacher at St. Jude Regional Catholic School in Rockville, Maryland;
- MaryJo O’Keefe, a middle school religion teacher at St. Peter’s School in Olney, Maryland
- Andrew Price, a physical education teacher at St. Raphael School in Rockville, Maryland;
- Stephanie Smith, a fourth grade teacher at St. Mary’s School in Bryantown, Maryland;
- Shelly Taguchi, a Pre-K3 teacher at Our Lady of Victory School in Washington, D.C.;
- Leslie True, a first grade teacher at St. Mary’s School of Piscataway in Clinton, Maryland.
Related roundup story on this year's Golden Apple teachers:
2025 Golden Apple Award-winning teachers reflect on why they teach in Catholic schools
