Two Principals at local Catholic Schools honored with a service award for helping children

BALTIMORE, Md. - Tom and Rebecca Malone are the 2011 winners of the Expanding Horizons EV Service Award.  The husband and wife team met at Harvard University and developed a passion for education and service.

They received the award for volunteering in a tutoring program called Earthen Vessels for needy elementary and middle school children while they were students at Harvard University.

The award brings a smile to their faces 25 years later.

"All these years later we are all adults and the program has changed our lives and so to be reminded of that is great.  This is where it began and you are still remembered for this is very flattering and it's an honor," said Rebecca Malone, Principal of St. Francis of Assisi School and award winner.

"When I received the award and I look back over the years at the growth of the Program. It's been gratifying to know what we started as a small program many years ago has really expanded and served more and more students over the years," said Tom Malone, Principal of Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.

Rebecca Malone is Principal at St. Francis of Assisi School.  Her experience with the program at Harvard helped nurture her goal of becoming an educator.

She brings her early lessons and experience with children to St. Francis.

"We want our children to be well educated in the next step of their schooling.  We also want them to be fully formed in their faith and fully formed as good decent individuals," said Rebecca Malone.

Tom Malone is the Principal at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School.  He admits the program taught him many things. It is knowledge he has brought to Cristo Rey.

"We would like our students to gain from our school, the academic abilities to succeed in college, but also their sense of their place in the world as contributing members to their community.  We are a close knit community where we work together all for the same mission.  We are going to college to be successful in life," said Tom Malone.

For Tom and Rebecca, education is not just a job, it is a calling.  It is a calling they heard and responded to loud and clear.

"As educators we are working very hard to get it right and to get it right for every kid in every setting, which makes it an exciting time to be involved in education because there is so much to learn and so much more to know.  It's not boring," said Rebecca Malone.

"We are not here just to do a job or just to be happy.  We are here to give. We are here to contribute and for me, the right way to contribute to society is to be involved in urban Catholic Education," said Tom Malone.

During their two decades of marriage, Tom and Rebecca have taught in schools in Canada, Massachusetts, New York and in Maryland.