The New Kid: Mr. Gabriel Verdaguer Reflects on his Childhood at CM's Third Agape Latte

West Roxbury, Mass.-- Mr. Gabriel Verdaguer remembers the exact four digits  of his family’s winning lottery ticket.

Cuatro mil, trescientos, cuatro.

As a child, even then he knew the ticket meant more than just pesos promised to him and his family living in Argentina.

It catalyzed the most pivotal moment in his life: a move to America.

Mr. Verdaguer reflected on the move, and his countless subsequent moves, during his talk at Catholic Memorial School’s Agape Latte series last week in the Kennedy Commons. He moved from New York to the Metrowest Boston area several times after his arrival in America. With each move, his label as “The New Kid” accompanied him along the way.

“There was a time period during my family’s immigration journey where I lived in four different communities in four years,” said Mr. Verdaguer, a world language teacher at CM.

“This stretch in particular taught me a lot about what makes a community welcoming and what efforts a person has to make to find a sense of belonging.”

Mr. Verdaguer shared with the crowd some of the heartbreaks, triumphs, and consolations that his journey brought him. Above anything else, he longed for a sense of belonging. He found that,in order to find this belonging, he needed to make himself open to each new community he entered.

“Committing myself to do well academically and takin deliberate steps to get involved or join a sports team helped me to move beyond the ‘New Kid’ identity quicker and find belonging.”

A standing ovation from CM students and faculty erupted from the commons after the talk.

Now in its third installment at CM, the Agape Latte series reminds its student-audiences how to embrace vulnerability and honesty when telling their own life stories.

CM’s Assistant Director of Campus Ministry, Mr. Nick Genovese, started the Agape Latte series last fall. He created the series to offer faculty, staff, and administrators a platform for telling stories about times where they found God in their everyday life.

“Agape is the Greek word for a kind of love that seeks nothing in return, a word that frequently pervades Catholic Memorial theology classrooms,” said Mr. Genovese.

“The program aims to invite students into deeper and more vulnerable dialogue about matters of faith, love, and purpose.”

In its inaugural year, the series featured two speaker-events. Mr. Andrew O’Brien and Mr. Thomas Meagher both gave talks on how their faith plays out in their everyday lives.

Events begin with an introduction from a student member of the Agape Latte council. CM’s Campus Ministry works with the student council to choose speakers, discuss story themes, and pick an event location. Events offer students music, free desserts, and Agape Latte t-shirts.

A Q&A session after each talk invites students to engage in the authentic conversation themselves.

Mr. Genovese plans to coordinate another Agape Latte this spring. The time and date have yet to be announced.