Karla Dorweiler | Special to The Michigan Catholic

Plymouth school boasts five alumni as staff members

Plymouth — Our Lady of Good Counsel School seems to have a “boomerang effect” on its students. The school sends them out, and many of them come right back.

Of the 35 full-time faculty at the school, five attended the school as elementary students, and even more alumni have taught together in previous years.

Now in his fourth year as principal at Our Lady of Good Counsel, John Czaplicki isn’t surprised the school has that sort of effect on so many teachers and staff. Several also have children enrolled in the school, giving them the unique perspective of former student, teacher and parent.

“What this shows is that there’s a sense of community here at Our Lady of Good Counsel School, a sense of wanting to carry on the tradition,” Czaplicki said. “I’m always told by parents that there’s such a family feel here, and I think the fact that we have a high percentage of former students on our teaching staff contributes to that.”

Czaplicki said the school doesn’t actively pursue Good Counsel graduates, but former students often keep in touch and then apply for positions as they become available. Most families are members of the parish and stay connected to the school even after their children go to high school and college.

“Our mission here is for every child to encounter Christ. Our alumni teachers know when they apply here what our school is about, what we stand for,” Czaplicki said. “They have memories of OLGC and things they loved about the school, but in the end, they encountered Christ here and they want to offer that same experience to others.”

Joseph Jeffery, director of campus ministry, joined the staff in the fall of 2014. He graduated from the elementary school in 2005 and now works with many of the teachers who once taught him.

“A lot of things are the same here, but a good deal is different, too,” Jeffery said.



Jeffery sees himself as one part of the Good Counsel team striving to equip students with the Catholic faith in order to take it with them into adulthood and live out their own relationship with Christ.

“Several years ago, the parish defined more clearly its vision, and that is to offer everyone in our community a life-changing encounter with the person of Jesus Christ,” Jeffery said. “By extension, that is the school’s vision as well.”

Jeffery said the school added his position as director of campus ministry “to be able to offer the faith more fully.”

“We have regular confession, retreats and adoration where we lead them in prayer and teach them how to pray,” he said.

Lindsay Bosker attended Our Lady of Good Counsel School from first through eighth grade and then replaced her own fourth-grade teacher when she took the position in 2004. Her brother was in eighth grade at Good Counsel at the time.

“It was an adjustment at first to work with people that I used to call ‘Mrs.’ and now used their first names, but they were all really welcoming to me as their colleague,” Bosker said. “We’re like family. It’s like going back to Mom and Dad’s house after college; it’s a place you want to be because you feel you’re part of something.”

Third-grade teacher Pat Rossow, another graduate, has seen many of her own former students come back as teachers. Rossow has been teaching at the school for 30 years.

“I love the school, the parish, the whole environment here,” Rossow said. “The atmosphere is very close-knit.”

First-grade teacher Jackie Coury and kindergarten teacher Lauren Kowalski also are graduates of the Plymouth school who returned to teach at their former stomping grounds. Kowalski left Good Counsel as an elementary school graduate 20 years ago this May and returned to teach eight years ago.

“In my heart, I always knew I wanted to return to OLGC School as a teacher, but never dreamed it would actually happen,” Kowalski said. “I always desired to be back in the community where my faith was formed, and to work alongside teachers that inspired to me to become a teacher myself.”

Kowalski now teaches the child of one of her former classmates and has been enjoying the chance to reconnect.

“I do see myself staying at OLGC indefinitely. I can’t imagine teaching anywhere else,” Kowalski said. “OLGC feels like, and is, home to me.”