eileen geary

Geary Brings World Experience to Holy Cross School

By Angela E. Pometto
HERALD Staff Writer
(From the Issue of 10/5/06)

Most teachers don’t go into education to travel, but Eileen Geary, a language arts and religion teacher at Holy Cross Academy in Fredericksburg, did exactly that.
She spent two years teaching in the United States before leaving for Brussels, Belgium, to teach at an international school. Her first time outside of Pennsylvania was “quite an experience,” she said. In Belgium, she met her husband, who works for the State Department, and they spent the next 20 years traveling around the world.
Geary taught in Catholic and international schools in Morocco, Australia, Pakistan, Korea and France. Since international schools are open to English-speakers living abroad, Geary continued teaching language arts. They also lived in Guatemala, but Geary had three young children at that point and took a break from teaching.
Her students benefit from her years of travel. When discussing a novel, she tells them stories about how she walked down that street in Paris or stood on that spot in Korea. It makes those places more real to them, she said, adding that they love hearing about the different kinds of food.
Eventually the Geary family returned to the United States and settled in Virginia. She taught at Montfort Academy before it closed and then at Holy Cross Academy when it opened in 1998.
At Holy Cross, she is known for her work with the annual Shakespeare Festival. Each spring the diocese hosts the event where participants from more than 20 schools perform 30 minutes of Shakespeare. The festival is in its 15th year, and Geary is one of two teachers who has participated in it since the beginning.
After directing the first Shakespeare festival, she got the “directing bug” and has continued promoting theatrical arts.
“I love to see what happens when students take on a character,” she said, adding that many students return to tell her that performing Shakespeare was an important experience in their education.
Even after the festival is over, many students continue reciting their lines for fun. “They feel special that Shakespeare can roll out of their mouths,” she said. “Shakespeare was meant to be fun.”

Angela E. Pometto can be reached at apometto@catholicherald.com.