Each year, the Brother Martin High School Board of Directors awards the Brother More Schaefer Award to an outstanding member of our faculty. Our recipient traditionally has been announced to the Brother Martin community at our annual recognition ceremony in January. This year the recipient was announced following our school wide liturgy so that our entire school community, especially our student body, could celebrate and honor our recipient.
A native of New Orleans, Brother More graduated from St. Aloysius in 1950 and pronounced his first vows as a Brother of the Sacred Heart in 1952. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics from Spring Hill College, a Master of Arts in Guidance and Counseling from the University of Alabama, and a Master of Science in Physics from Purdue University.
Brother More served in many ways. He was a teacher, coach, department chairman, guidance counselor, Director of Admissions and Vice Principal. At the time of his death in 1983 he had long been recognized as a Master Educator. Comments from his eulogy and from the letter announcing his death included:
“He took an interest in all students.” “His classes were well prepared and methodically executed.” “His deep faith inspired us all.” “In whatever place and in whatever position he served, he was always thorough, professional, challenging and concerned. In a word, he loved.”
Throughout the selection process, faculty are asked to nominate a colleague and, ultimately, the selection committee – comprised of a member of the Board of Directors, the Alumni Board of Directors, distinguished members of the Brother Martin community, and past recipients of the award – is charged with selecting a member of our faculty who demonstrates (1) Excellence in Instruction, (2) Commitment to Formation, and (3) Demonstration of Christian Witness.
In his remarks today, Principal Ryan Gallagher ‘00, stated:
The Prophet Micah says that to do God’s work, we must do three things:
1. Do what is right; act with justice
2. Love tenderly
3. Walk humbly with God
Our namesake, Brother Martin Hernandez, reminds us that we “are not here to teach young boys how to make a living, but how to make a life.”
This year’s Brother More Schaefer Award recipient, Mr. Chris Biehl, does all of these things every day, instructing us in the charism of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart; forming us in God’s likeness; as bearing witness as a Christian example of Jesus’s love for and devotion to our students.
Mr. Biehl is a model of servant leadership – the very leadership to which we challenge our students to every day. In all sorts of situations, he has risen to the occasion time and again. He has shared gifts with our community in so many ways, specifically as a Study Skills teacher, an English teacher, a Math teacher, and mentor in the Formation Center.
Mr. Biehl leads by example each and every day. He leads his senior classes in wading through the complexities of Advanced Math. He leads his basketball players on the court, and last basketball season he led them to the state championship game and to the brink of a state title.
Congratulations to this year’s outstanding faculty member, Mr. Chris Biehl!
