“I’m a guy and not Catholic, why would they hire me?” said Mr. Cross, an English teacher at Padua, when talking about why he started working at Padua. “It was really an accident, honest,” he said. “I was at a summer workshop in Delcastle when a teacher from Padua said she could see me working there. I interviewed at Padua and applied to Sallies, Padua hired me and three hours later, Sallies told me yes.”

Mr. Cross was not the greatest student when he was in school, “I was that one kid that your parents told you to stay away from,” he said. Mr. Cross talked about how he had an influential teacher that made him think about teaching as a career. When he was in college, he thought it was a good idea to teach, so he decided to pursue it. “Here I am, eighteen years later,” he said.

Mr. Cross loves Padua. He says he learns something new everyday from his different students in his different lessons. He loves that most kids are willing to go with anything. His lesson plans and different types of classes might be considered unusual to some. He loves the patience the students have with new things and that Padua isn’t afraid to try new things. Mr. Cross admires the way Padua encourages exploration to its students.