The Man of the Auer Adam Bross ‘12 It was announced following the culmination of Elder’s All School Mass on January 31 st , 2012. Mr. Roger Auer was shipping off to Boston from April 11 th -13 th in order to collect the National Catholic Education Association’s Secondary Education Award. The contest is on a national scale with teachers from Catholic schools throughout the nation attempt to win the prestigious award. The award itself came as a huge surprise to Mr. Auer as he was never informed of being submitted as a candidate. Instead, Mr. Patrick Tucker clandestinely entered Mr. Auer into the contest and Mr. Auer was eventually selected as the NCEA’s 2012 winner. The National Catholic Education Association is made up of over 200,000 educators from 1,380 Catholic high schools throughout the fifty states, but only one wins the Secondary Education Award. Mr. Auer has dedicated 35 years to service in Catholic schools including 31 to Elder High School from 1977-1981 and 1984-present with a brief hiatus in-between. In his three decades at Elder High School, Mr. Auer has become the figurehead of the religion department and one of the most visible members of the faculty. He occupies the position of Campus Minister. Mr. Auer also runs the Community Service Program. The program started in and has thrived under Mr. Auer’s direction as Elder students head out during a period of the school day to local schools in order to mentor youngsters in the community. He also is the brains behind Kairos retreats here at Elder High School. Finally, Mr. Auer is the religion department’s co-chair along with Ken Laake. Outside of Elder, Mr. Auer is heavily involved in the Over the Rhine area. He gives an incredible amount of weekend hours to the suburban area just north of the metropolitan area of Cincinnati. His pride and joy rests in the famous ElMoe house which was built by a cooperative effort of students from Elder and Moeller. This magnum opus came via his participation in the ReStoc program in Over the Rhine. This journalist feels it is beyond safe to assume that Mr. Auer’s favorite hobby is service; made obvious through his ineffable amount of time spent in service to the students of Elder High School and the city of Cincinnati. Aside from all the tangible qualifications Mr. Auer has obtained, he is much more than just his listed achievements. Having been a leader on Kairos in October with Mr. Auer, I know he richly deserves this award. Mr. Auer is the type of person you only meet once in a lifetime. Everything he does her at Elder is for the student body. He is the most humble man roaming Elder’s halls and would put the smallest thing from a student ahead of even his most drastic need. I experienced Mr. Auer’s unique and amiable personality firsthand during the time we spent together during the October Kairos this past year. Mr. Auer directed the Kairos and selected me to be the rector so we spent a lot of time together preparing for the retreat. There is no other man in Elder High School who possesses the qualities Mr. Auer does. He is the one man who I feel has brought me closer to God. Mr. Auer defines what Catholic education should be about, because it is more than just studying the history of the church or the regulations of Catholicism. Catholic education is learning how you can make a difference in the world around you and learning to think about more than yourself. Mr. Auer has taught me how to be a better person and to be a better man. He provides an example no other has provided during my time at Elder High School and for that I am beyond thankful for everything he has done for me in four years. The NCEA needed to save the best for last because of the world ending this December. The latest, greatest (and perhaps final) award recipient was Elder High School’s very own Mr. Roger Auer, who deserves more recognition than this meager awarded, but has earned this small token as symbolism in his tremendous career of Catholic education.