2025 Catholic Schools Week Supplement
A grandmother’s lasting gift touches her granddaughter and the children she teaches
As a teacher at St. Christopher School in Indianapolis, Amber Barker is living her dream—teaching at the school that had a great impact on her childhood. (Submitted photo)
By John Shaughnessy
Of all the gifts that Amber Barker has received, the one with the most lasting impact may have come from her grandmother.
That gift across the generations has shaped her family, her faith, her choice of career, her life.
“My grandmother lived her faith. She worked hard in Catholic schools. She taught and drove the school bus,” Barker recalls. “She also volunteered her time and money to help her parish and the community in whatever way she could.”
Beyond her example, her grandmother changed the course of Barker’s life by encouraging her parents to send her to St. Christopher School in Indianapolis.
“There was a real sense of community there. The older students helped the younger students. The teachers and staff members loved one another,” Barker notes. “God was present there each and every day.
“I have fond memories of each of the teachers I was honored to have. From Mrs. Evans putting the Advent wreath candles out by licking her fingers and pinching the wicks, to twirling in my first Communion dress with
Mrs. Betz, to Mrs. Lindop’s big embrace when I lost my uncle unexpectedly. Those teachers loved me.”
Barker’s grade school experience inspired her to become a teacher, and for the past 13 years she has lived her dream at her dream school—St. Christopher.
Her gifts as a teacher also led to her being named as one of the finalists for the 2023-24 Saint Theodore Excellence in Education Award, the highest honor the archdiocese gives an educator
“When I was offered the job, I accepted without hesitation. I knew God wanted me to be here,” says Barker. “St. Christopher School is the vessel God blessed me with, to share my gifts and my faith with others. I have prayed with students and staff members through good times and bad. We have worshipped together and worked together. We have served together. I work every day to be the face of Christ.”
As a third-grade teacher, she also strives to share one overriding message with her students.
“The most important thing I want them to know and remember about me is that I love them, believe in them, and trust that they can go out into the world and be kind. More than anything, I want for them to feel as at home and cared for here as I did. Just as our mission statement says, we ‘seek to be an extension of our students’ homes.’ That is something that sets our school apart from others—part of what makes Catholic education different and special.”
In nominating her for the Saint Theodore Excellence in Education Award, fellow teachers highlighted her “creative ways to help children who are struggling or to push others to excellence,” her “technologic prowess” to create activities that help students grow in their faith, and her development of a new school-wide system of behavior “named after four different saints and based on cardinal values.”
Barker views her every effort as a way of paying forward the gift of faith and love that her grandmother gave her.
“St. Christopher School has been a part of my life in some way for the better part of 24 years. It is literally part of who I am,” she says. “The community that lives within these walls has been my family in good times and bad. They helped to raise me and taught me about love, kindness and what it means to be a ‘Christ-bearer.’
“Now it is my turn—my honor—to live my faith, to return the favor.” †
