As we reflect on Hispanic Heritage Month, we caught up with SMPA Principal, Dr. Kelly O’Leary, to hear how her Cuban heritage has inspired her throughout her life and career.
How does your Hispanic heritage influence your professional journey?
My mother is Cuban and was born in Havana in 1955. She and her family fled communism in 1960 and they lived in Puerto Rico for two years in a garage before coming to the United States. Education was and IS so important to my mother and her family. Both my mother and her brother both earned their master’s degrees – – in Bilingual Education (mom), and Microbiology (uncle). My mother instilled in me that education will take you far in life. As a result, I earned my BS in biology from Villanova University (my mother and father’s alma mater), my master’s in education from Sacred Heart University, and my doctoral degree in education from Seton Hall University. I was taught at a very young age that I could be anything I wanted to be! My family has supported me through every step of my journey.
Are there any Hispanic educators or figures who have inspired your educational career?
St. Oscar Romero has been a huge inspiration in my life. His advocacy for social justice is something I strive to emulate. Accompaniment is the Liberation Theology notion of “journeying with.” I feel this is what we do at SMPA; we journey with our students and families for 12+ years. Success is often not a straight path. To journey with students is to celebrate and support them as they continue to cultivate their gifts and talents. We say every morning as part of the Honor Code, “I will endeavor to share my gifts and talents to make my family, my school, and my community a place of justice and peace.” St. Oscar Romero used his gifts and talents to advocate for the people of El Salvador and the world.
St. Oscar Romero’s most famous prayer, “A Step Along the Way,” inspires me to continue St. Martin de Porres Academy’s transformational work of education and opportunity. Here is the text of his prayer:
It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.
As we celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, what message would you like to share with the SMPA community?
The was a banner hung in the very first Nativity School which opened in 1971 on the lower east side in Manhattan which say, “Nativity’s gift to you is opportunity. Your gift to Nativity is what you do with that opportunity.” At St. Martin’s, we open doors of opportunity for students. I was taught at a young age to take advantage of every opportunity. Cuban sayings were very common in my house growing up. “Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.” When literally translated it means, “The shrimp that falls asleep is carried away by the current.” The lesson behind this Cuban saying is to be awake/open or you might miss out on opportunities because the current pulling in another direction is very strong. So, my message to the SMPA community is to “just keep swimming.” Our students’ gift back to St. Martin de Porres Academy is what they do with that opportunity. Our kids are incredible, and they will make our community and the world places of justice and peace.
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