If you come to meet Seton Teaching Fellows in New York, there’s a good chance Max Daley will invite you out to enjoy one of his favorite spots in the city. Max, a Seton Teaching Fellow in Cohort 11, is a strong and energetic teacher, which is no surprise considering he grew up in the middle of four brothers and two sisters.
Max is from the western suburbs of Chicago, where the Catholic faith and serving others were central to his family life. “My parents met as Dominican volunteers in Chicago. Growing up, my dad founded a youth center: Blessed Sacrament Youth Center,” recounts Max. “I spent a lot of childhood there. It had afterschool stuff, games, basketball courts, field trips, a computer lounge, and a library.”
From this early formation, sports and service have remained in Max’s life. He started caddying in sixth grade and went to college on a full-ride through the Chick Evans scholarship. The scholarship led Max to the University of Washington where he studied oceanography.
While at the University of Washington, he also worked in athletic equipment. As he began looking for plans after graduation, Max knew he wanted to live in New York.
He applied to do an MBA at St. John’s College in Queens, but in April of his senior year, Max found out that he wouldn’t receive a graduate assistant position to fund the program. He’d also been exploring an opportunity to work at Columbia University in the athletic equipment room – a job he’d also done in college. But that also didn’t pan out.
Despite a few closed doors, God clearly had something unexpected in store for Max.
In May of his senior year, Max received a providential email from Clare Fay, an STF recruiter, introducing the Fellows program. As he read, Max thought, “What the heck? I’ll apply!”
Max had grown up near his dad’s youth center, so serving, particularly serving children, was near to his heart. “I was thinking about a volunteer year because I didn’t pay to go to college, and I wanted to develop good habits and help out. I also was looking into the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, but it wasn’t for me,” says Max.
As the Seton Teaching Fellows discernment process continued, Max realized how well the program fit: “The interview with David Mata & Clare Fay was really where I thought ‘I could do this’ – I agreed with what they were doing. It was very Catholic, and I liked that.”
So far, Max has had a wonderful year of teaching. During the day, he works at Brilla Veritas Middle School and then teaches sports for the El Camino program after school. Even though Max doesn’t think he’ll continue with a career in teaching, he sees the value in learning how to be a teacher.
“You might have never taught, but in one way or another, you learn from a teacher. It’s one of those jobs everyone should do, like retail,” says Max. “It gives you a different perspective that you wouldn’t have otherwise.”
The Seton Teaching Fellows program has also given Max the chance to share his love of sports, just like others did for him when he was young. “Growing up, I had a lot of different coaches who were very passionate, and many of these kids have never done an organized sport. It’s fun to see it come full circle,” Max explains. “As a kid, I always thought some drill was stupid (like suicides), and now I catch myself doing the same things I grew up doing.”
For Max, the heart of the mission and its most rewarding part is joking and smiling with the children: “Favorite parts of the program? I’d have to say the kids. That’s why I’m here. And I get to say I’m in New York!”
