Emily McCarty, a teacher at Holy Spirit School, navigated a sea of red-sweatshirt-wearing eighth-graders as she carefully checked their math work in the classroom April 14.
“I’m very methodical with my teaching. I don’t cut out steps,” said McCarty during an interview in her classroom.
McCarty is this year’s recipient of the Father Joseph McGee Outstanding Catholic Educator Award. She received the Archdiocese of Louisville award during the Salute to Catholic School Alumni event this spring.
She was nominated for the award by fellow educators at Holy Spirit. In the nomination, they describe her as not only having “outstanding mastery” over her content area, but also the ability to help students grow in their faith through “conversations and her examples.”
She leads her students in prayer throughout the school day, shares her faith and has served as a confirmation sponsor to students, the nomination said.
“She holds her students to high expectations while making sure she provides the support they need to meet those expectations. Emily is never afraid to go above and beyond as she embraces her service to Catholic education,” according to the nomination.
McCarty is in her 36th year as a teacher and her fifth year at Holy Spirit. She previously taught at St. Athanasius School. Her teaching career began in North Carolina while her husband, Deacon James McCarty, was in the U.S. Navy.
In addition to math, she has taught language arts and religion, even winning the archdiocese’s Religious Educational Excellence Award in 2017, she said.
No matter the subject, her approach to teaching is the same, McCarty said.
“My goal is not to be the best in the world but to prepare students to be the best for the world. My success is measured on their success,” she said. “Regardless of the subject, you have to meet them where they are. You have to see … their strengths and needs, and build upon those to lift them up.”
She teaches 130 kids every day, and she’s aware that not every student “gets math.” But she still holds each to a high standard, she said. McCarty often meets with students before the school day starts.
She noted that the frustration of trying to work through math problems at home tends to cause fights between parent and child.
“I know not every parent can help their student with math,” she said. “I make myself available to the kids. I know not everyone gets math,” she said. I may not always be their favorite teacher, and I’m OK with that. My biggest reinforcement is when they come back to tell me how well they’re doing,” she said. “Some who struggle (in middle school) do well in high school; it clicks.”
McCarty said she is honored and humbled by the award.
“There are so many wonderful teachers,” she said, noting that the award validates her work. “It says what I do is important and that it makes a difference in the lives of the students.”
She added that her teaching ministry is “my time to give back. I had very good teachers in school.”
McCarty and her husband, Deacon McCarty, are members of St. Edward Church, where he serves. The couple have a daughter and four grandchildren.
