Sue Schoen, Professor Emeritus Holy Cross College

By Craig Horvath ’85 Director of Alumni Relations

“There’s no such thing as a failure except if you stop trying!”

At the Board of Trustees meeting Sue Schoen was honored for her long and distinguished service to Holy Cross College by being named Associate Professor Emeritus.

Born in Chicago, Sue received her bachelor of arts in English and Education from Rosary College in River Forest, Illinois (now Dominican University). Following graduation, Sue pursued her master’s in English from Purdue University while working as a teaching assistant. Her first career move led her to the University of Wisconsin as an instructor in Reading and Study Skills. She worked in this capacity for just over two years and was promoted to director of the program for the last 6 months of her tenure, and then put her talents to work at the University of Notre Dame’s Developmental Reading Program. When Notre Dame officials discontinued that program, one professor recommended that Sue consider teaching at St. Mary’s College or at Holy Cross College. “I had never heard of Holy Cross College and wasn’t even sure where it was located,” she recalls.

Sue thoughtfully pursued an interview at Holy Cross with Brother John Driscoll, CSC in 1970, and was immediately hired for a full-time teaching position. She began her career teaching in a room on the top floor of James Hall (currently a dormitory) and was assigned Composition I and II, World Literature I and II and Seminar. She also created the Reading and Study Skills program at HCC and continued teaching here for 37 years until the death of her husband; moreover her own failing health caused her to take a leave of absence for the 2007-2008 school year. Sue has established a scholarship in honor of her late husband at HCC.

Fondly recalling the “early days” when she and the rest of the staff had informal meetings outside Brother John Driscoll’s office on Friday afternoons with assorted beverages, Sue recalls her start at the College: “Ironically, I never intended to become a teacher. I just sort of fell into it. My mom was a teacher, but I always dreamed of becoming a writer.”  Proudly reflecting on the opportunity to be a published writer at sixteen years of age, Sue said, “It’s true what they say, life happens to you when you’re doing something else.”

Sue has no regrets about pursuing teaching. “The best part of teaching and being a teacher are the students.”  She still hears from many of her former students. They invite her to their weddings, their children’s baptisms and graduations and many still send her Christmas cards and call her at home. Many others write her letters and notes. Sue’s caregiver, Jennifer Clark-Hunter is one of her former HCC students and attributes much of her growth to Sue. “Sue taught me practical skills. Specifically, how to self test prior to the actual exams. She also taught me the importance of using note cards.”

One of Sue’s favorite sayings was about the path to success: “There’s no such thing as a failure except if you stop trying!” A hallmark of her teaching strategy was providing her students in English 100 with a motivational packet at the beginning of each semester to help them stay positive and focused. And along the way Sue has encouraged her students to cultivate their voice in their writing. “There’s no such thing as bad writing. If teachers treat students with respect and dignity and teach them how to write, how to improve, and how to find their inner voice, then they all can learn to write well.” Sue hopes her legacy will be that students learned applicable life skills in her courses and that they learned how to be better human beings. She also hopes she helped her students learn (as she gratefully learned), that parents are a lot smarter than many college students think they are.

As I reflect on Sue’s influence in my own life, I fondly recall her teaching style and methods in  Composition I and II. She loved the subject matter and she loved her students. Consequently, she made learning exciting and fun! She was extremely creative. I came to Holy Cross very strong in math, and yet barely adequate in writing. Sue equipped me with a formidable vocabulary. Through her encouragement, she also taught me to love to read and write. Journaling became my favorite part of her classes. We wrote each and every day and this helped enhance our writing skills. It also gave us confidence in expressing ourselves through the written word. Sue never missed an opportunity to offer positive, yet constructive, criticism. She communicated a strong belief in each student’s abilities, and students responded to her with effort and a desire to improve. To this day, with her tremendous memory, Sue can still recall topics students chose to write about.

One of the great blessings of my career at Holy Cross has been the opportunity to speak with Sue Schoen on a regular basis. She is very helpful and enthusiastic about the College, and her love and devotion for the College is matched only by her eager reports of alumni activities in the community. Sue is an avid reader and she gleans a lot of her information from the newspapers, which has resulted in an incredible amount of support and ideas from Sue for my alumni-relationship building. She is a great aid in my fundraising and alumni relations efforts. To me, Sue is Holy Cross College. She is legendary and her contributions will resonate for many years to come. It was a joy and an honor to write this article. It was my “Tuesdays with Morrie” moment. Thanks, Sue, for being such a rich blessing in all our lives.  

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