“Having the opportunity to make friends who are also Catholic and have a similar value system has helped me deepen my faith connections.”
Happy Ending
Angela Saoud and Professor Kitty Green
at an alumnae gathering
When Angela Saoud ’05 was a student at Saint Mary’s, she worked in the Haggar Snack bar. “To this day, I still make a mean grilled cheese sandwich,” says Saoud. But it’s the other job skills the English writing major honed that set a path for her future. While at Saint Mary’s Saoud was a member of the Observer staff from 2003-2005, and was the Saint Mary’s editor during the ’04-’05 school year. “That consumed a lot of my time, but I like being in an organization that helped Saint Mary’s get the recognition it deserved.”
With a minor in secondary education , Saoud is now an English and Journalism Teacher at LaPorte Community School Corporation in LaPorte, Ind. She is also a freelance writer, with articles published in the South Bend Tribune, Northern Indiana LAKES Magazine, and Courier. She specializes in features, “specifically features that focus on people and their stories. I’m a believer that everyone has a story,” says Saoud.
Saoud’s own story includes how she came to attend Saint Mary’s. Originally she wanted to attend a big state school, but a diagnosis of Systemic Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis forced her to change her plans. “I needed a smaller campus close to home that I could be more mobile on,” says Saoud. “Saint Mary’s had so much to offer, I knew it was the right place the moment I stepped on campus.”
Beyond mobility, Saoud says the size of Saint Mary’s allowed her so many more opportunities for learning. “I really feel because I was able to know my professors so well I was able to pick their brains and advance my own learning at the same time. I know that Saint Mary’s made me what I am today,” says Saoud. She stays in contact with one of her professors, Dr. Kitty Green, who Saoud says “inspires me to want to be a better person and a teacher …”
Saoud sets her own example as a volunteer for the South Bend Arthritis Foundation, sitting on their board. “I love giving back to an organization that has given so much to me.”
As a teacher Saoud says that she tries to make the world a better place each day by teaching her students. “I teach them more than just English – I teach them how to interact with one another, how to care about one another, and how to love one another. I touch lives each day by teaching, even if I don’t always get recognized for it.”