by Ben Quach ’27
A quarter of the way through the school year, the school community has had a chance to settle in and get back into the rhythm of our everyday school lives. Whether you’re a freshman who stepped onto campus for the first time back in August, a seasoned staff member who had to get used to a different class of students, a seasoned senior in midst of college applications, or a new staff member acclimating to the Bellarmine community, we’ve all had a chance to settle in.
Among our new staff members are Mr. Jubenal Rodriguez, Ms. Preethi Kumar, and Ms. Ana Fuentes. I’ve recently had the opportunity to meet with each one of them and get to know who they are and their roles here at Bell.
When asked about what being an Assistant Dean meant to him, Mr. Rodriguez thoughtfully responded, “I think being an Assistant Dean means supporting our office, but most importantly, being and advocate for our students – reminding them of the expectations that not only the school has for them, but their family I’m sure has for them, and making sure that we are trying to be the standard on a daily basis, which can be difficult to do because we have to be consistent. It’s advocating for students and making sure the school is safe on a daily basis.”
Full of enthusiasm for his place of work, he revealed, “I’m absolutely loving it. I’m loving the high standard of students on campus. I’m loving working with the people I work with, and I enjoy coming to work every day.” He continued, “I was a teacher for thirteen years prior to this, so my favorite part about Bell is interacting with students in a different way, outside of the classroom. I absolutely love it. I’m not just working with one certain part of the population. I’m working with the whole school. So, I’m just loving interacting with each student every day, or as many students as I can on a daily rate.”
Reflecting on his decision to pursue his role at Bell, Mr. Rodriguez spoke to the appeal of faith-based education. “I saw an opportunity. I was in the classroom for a long time. I think I was ready for something different, but within education and I thought this would be a perfect role for my personality and with my desire to also get back into faith-based education, this just drove me to try to get this role, and I’m enjoying it a lot. I wanted to try something different in education, and getting back into faith-based education has been one of my goals.”
In relation to his background beyond Bell, he shared, “I also work part time for Santa Clara County Probation. I work with incarcerated youth as a Probation Counselor. My position there is a unique one because I work with youth that need a different type of help. Overall, I enjoy working with youth.”
Getting to know the person behind the title of Assistant Dean, Mr. Rodriguez touched on his family, his garden, and his love of sports and food. “Aside from playing with my three-year-old son and my five-month-old son, my biggest hobby is trying to keep my garden alive. I currently have four trees and five plants, and one tree is currently struggling, so I’m hoping to keep it alive, but it doesn’t look good – so just making sure I’m consistent with watering my garden on a daily basis. That is my biggest hobby. I know it sounds boring, but playing with my kids – they’re the joy of my life right now, and just hanging out with my family and trying to work out when I can. And I love reading when I have some downtime. I’m a big fan of Marcus Freeman, the head coach of Notre Dame. I love listening to him and the way he teaches the game. Also, I love food – I love trying different pizza spots.”
Teaching both chemistry and biology this year, Ms. Kumar is looking forward to being able to watch her students grow throughout the entire year. “I like the fact that I teach the same group of students for an entire school year, which wasn’t the case at the place that I worked at before. I would get a new batch of students each at the end of a semester. So, I think the kind of relationships we can have for an entire year will be great. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how that goes.”
Ms. Kumar also explained how coming to Bellarmine was a welcome change in other ways. With the school where she previously taught being too far a commute her home in the South Bay, she began looking for new schools, visiting them and getting a feel of her options. Referring to why she chose Bellarmine, she revealed, “The thing that really struck me the most was the community, and I felt people were just very genuine and so, I knew that it would click with me, which is why I moved here.”
On topic of the school’s community, she noted how despite the large size of the school compared to most others, the community here at Bell is really strong. “I see that among students. I also feel the same way around my colleagues. So I think that is something that I sensed, even when I came in last year to see the school. And I really love that, so I’m happy. I love my classes. The schedule is the only thing which is a little bit crazy for me sometimes, and I’m still getting used to that, but for the most part, I think I’m well settled now.”
Yet despite the notoriety of our schedule and bell schedule, Ms. Kumar sees the logic and ingenuity behind it, adding, “As a teacher, for me, the schedule, even though it is a little bit hard for me, I feel it makes sense because I see different classes at different times. So, it doesn’t feel like I’m seeing the same classes after lunch, or the same class at the end of the day. So that’s great. I love that classes are long, but not too long. It’s just the right size and so that’s great. I also find that the students are really engaged, ask a lot of great questions, which makes teaching a lot of fun for me here, and in general the pace of how things move in the school is something that I’m really comfortable with. I’m really liking that.”
Touching on student life and the many student clubs and organization that we have to offer, she shared, “I didn’t have the time this year to join a club and to mentor a club, but I did go to the club fair and all the range of clubs there. I also enjoy being in the Maker Lab, really cool stuff happening there. I find it’s sort of my Zen space.”
Expanding on her own interests and hobbies, Ms. Kumar mentioned, “I’m really into K-pop music. I listen to a lot of K-pop. I’m still trying to find my pack of K-pop lovers here. I used to co-run a K-pop club at my previous school. I kind of miss that. I also like a lot of DIY maker stuff which is why I joined the Maker Lab. I really enjoy that. I like music in general. I do some singing and some painting, and some garden work. I’m with my dogs a lot.”
Religious Studies teacher Ms. Fuentes has come to really appreciate the freshmen for their enthusiasm and eagerness to engage. “I teach freshmen and sophomore religion classes, and I think particularly the freshmen – I think they come in with this energy that is very earnest. They’re perhaps a little uncertain, but i think what I’ve seen in my classes is this eagerness to learn and this eagerness to grow. I think I’ve been really impressed with the way they’ve handled particular subjects surrounding justice, and they’re passionate, and they’re willing to discuss potentially challenging or difficult subjects in a really honest and authentic way, which is really impressive. I think when I was their age, I wasn’t thinking through these big questions the way that they are, and so I’ve been really impressed.”
When asked about the importance of our freshman and sophomore religion classes (Hebrew & Christian Scriptures; and Creed, Community, and Call, respectively), she responded, “Teaching Scriptures for freshmen coming in is powerful in the sense that it is so foundational to the Catholic faith and the Catholic religion. And beyond that, I’m also so encouraged at the diversity of faith amongst our students, and that even non-Catholic students can engage with those teachings in a way that’s relevant to today. Teaching Creed, Community, and Call is awesome too because I just see a passion for learning. I know that sounds really cliche, but I see amongst this sophomore class, it’s very different than my freshmen.
“Freshmen come in a little uncertain, but sophomores are so bold and confident, and maybe sometimes it’s unfounded. I say that lovingly, but I think with sophomores, they come in, and they are excited to talk about these things. They’re excited to talk about, ‘Can we prove the existence of God? Can we use these arguments to prove that God exists?’ And they’re also excited to kind of critique those arguments and see how they can be better. And that has been just really cool to witness, where the students are actively engaging with the content enough that they will start debates about it or go back and forth. Even after the class is over, they’ll stay and have conversations about it. And it’s really cool to witness that.”
Thinking about the forces that have brought her to Bellarmine and welcomed her into this community, Ms. Fuentes reflected, “It was definitely a decision that came from a lot of discernment and prayer. I was not actively searching for a new job. I really enjoyed the last place that I worked at, and I felt this kind of call, I would say: God’s voice or whisper pushing me to this place. And I’ve been Jesuit-educated myself. I went to Santa Clara. I have a lot of appreciation for Jesuit education. And in particular, when I was going through my interview process here, I was really encouraged to hear current Bellarmine employees talk about students and their passion for justice, their passion for things going on in society and making teaching relevant to today’s world. And I think that is such a core part of Jesuit education: ‘Okay, you can know this stuff and you can have it at a very head-level and logical level, but how can you go deeper into that? How can you use what you learn in the classroom and have it change your heart, transform your heart, and transform the way that you live your life?’ And so I think that was really intriguing when I applied here. It felt like God was speaking to me, like ‘You’re meant for this. You’re meant to be here.’ And there’s been moments here and there where I feel God affirming that I’m exactly where I’m meant to be and I’m doing exactly what I’m meant to be doing.”
Speaking of that spiritual journey that has led her to where she is today, she added that while she was not actively searching for a new job, she “felt this kind of whisper from God that was like, ‘Apply in the spirit of discernment and just see what happens.’ And my prayer throughout that process was, ‘Hey God, if this is meant for me, let it happen. If it’s not meant to be, let it fail.’ And I learned a lot about trusting in God through that discernment process. Sometimes the plans that we have in our head that we think are meant for us are not the plans that God has for us. I’m really grateful for the discernment to humble myself and listen to God, because I know that God’s plans are better than anything that I could ever come up with myself.”
Before coming to Bellarmine, Ms. Fuentes was a youth minister for six years at a parish in San Jose for both middle school and middle school ministry, where she taught confirmation and oversaw the catechetical program. She then taught at Cristo Rey San Jose Jesuit School, starting off in charge of Student Activities before transitioning to teaching Religious Studies full-time for both freshmen and juniors. “I loved working in that community. I feel like that’s where I learned how to become a teacher,” she added, “I’ve always said that my personal mission has been to walk with young people and remind them that they are loved by God and they are loved for exactly who they are. They don’t need to earn that love – they can show up authentically as themselves and be known, loved, and cared for. And when my when I transitioned from youth ministry to teaching, I realized that my personal mission has stayed the same, that the core of what I do, the core of the person that I want to be has stayed the same.”
This prior experience in youth ministry has ignited an excitement for going on retreats at Bell. “I really love the opportunity for students to dive deeper into their faith or questions about life. I’m going on Freshman Retreat, so I’m excited for that. I’m also going to be going on Kairos in the spring. Opportunities to walk with students outside of a classroom setting, I think are really powerful.”
Discussing some of her personal passions, Ms. Fuentes touched on many photography, skating, and music. “I’ve enjoyed photography my entire life. I like film photography, but mostly now I shoot digitally. I appreciate videography as well.
“I don’t do it as much anymore, but I used to really enjoy skating. I would just go out on my skateboard and clear my head, skate around the neighborhood. I’m trying to get involved with the Skate Club here with Mr. Martin, so that’s been cool.
“I like going to concerts. I really enjoy music, so I go to concerts probably every other month, and I have a pretty diverse music taste, I would say. I went to Warped Tour this summer with my brother, and that was awesome. It’s pop, punk, different kinds of rock genres. And then I went to see Junior H last week at Shoreline. That’s more like Mexican music, corridos, that sort of thing. I really appreciate live music. That’s how I spend my free time.”
I concluded my interview with each teacher by asking what their message to the whole school would be.
Directly addressing the student body, Mr. Rodriguez gives us a heartfelt message, “Hey, I’m here for you. If you ever need anything, do not ever hesitate to come visit, send an email. I’m here for you. So, if you ever just want to talk or just have a question about something, don’t hesitate to ask not only myself, but anyone in the Dean’s office.”
Ms. Kumar kept it short, but full of meaning and impact, encouraging us to explore and branch out, “Be open to new ideas, embrace challenges, and take risks that help you grow. Be brave and bold.”
With peace, faith, and vocation on mind, Ms. Fuentes asks us to take a moment. “Slow down and listen to God’s voice or the presence of God, and be aware of that. I think in the busyness of it all, we sometimes get lost in the quick pace of how we do things here. I think when we slow down, we cherish and appreciate the moment. So slow down and cherish your moment of gratitude.”
Great article Ben! I think you captured the spirit of these new staff members. Bellarmine is blessed to have you writing for us, thank you!