Juan Diego CHS principal earns national award

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Dr. Galey Colosimo, principal of Juan Diego Catholic High School, is presented with the Spirit of Digital Learning Award at the Digital Learning Collaborative Annual Conference by Lisa Edgar, ASU Prep Digital/ASU Prep Academy for Arizona State University chief partnership officer, on Feb. 15 in Austin, Texas.

DRAPER —When Juan Diego Catholic High School’s principal Dr. Galey Colosimo and his team introduced blended online learning to their student body in 2014, he was just trying to prepare his students for the future. Colosimo had no way of knowing within a few years a pandemic would cause most of the world to migrate online for several months.

Because online learning was already established at Juan Diego, the Soaring Eagle campus hardly missed a beat when Covid hit Utah in March of 2020 and all schools were ordered to be shut down.

“The advantage we had when Covid hit was that we could turn on a dime,” Colosimo said. “We could take our blended online approach and make it completely online. The schools were closed on Thursday, March 13. We took Friday off, but by Monday morning the students were at home picking up with their lesson exactly where they left off on Thursday, without the brick and mortar part.”

Over the next several months, as educators everywhere grappled with how to teach during a pandemic, Colosimo and his team honed their program.

Not content to just take care of his own students, Colosimo stepped up efforts to help teachers at private schools across Utah.

In 2019 Colosimo had founded the Utah Private Schools Association and became its executive director, a position he still holds. In that role he and his team led seminars three times a year to share their blended online learning programs with other private school educators. During the Covid pandemic, he and his team increased their efforts to ensure that members of the organization had the skills to adequately serve their own students.

As a result of his work, Colosimo was awarded the Spirit of Digital Learning Award at the Digital Learning Collaborative Annual Conference on Feb. 15 in Austin, Texas. The Digital Learning Collaborative is “a membership group made up of the educators, providers and supporters seeking to improve education for all schools and students through research, information-sharing and collaborative activities,” states the press release announcing the award.

“It’s no exaggeration to say that thousands of students across the state have had digital courses due to his efforts to provide the necessary learning for their teachers and leaders in order to make it happen,” wrote Teresa King, director of national partnerships at Arizona State University Prep Digital, who nominated Colosimo for the award. “Expanding access to all types of learning for all students is his passion and it’s so clear in the way he makes it his personal mission to make sure every school — not just his own — has what they need.

“Over the course of my career, I’ve had the good fortune to work with many incredible school leaders, but none have possessed the limitless drive, sheer force of will, and unending tenacity to effect local change through digital learning the way Dr. Galey Colosimo does,” King wrote in her nomination.

While Colosimo said he is honored to have received the award, he was quick to credit his team and his students for the successes he has enjoyed. “It’s a team effort and this award was won by the entire contribution of Juan Diego faculty,” he said.

The recognition comes as no surprise to Utah Catholic Schools Superintendent Mark Longe.

“Dr. Colosimo has always been on the cutting edge of technology at his schools,” he said in an email interview. “I remember when he was the principal at St. Vincent de Paul School [in Salt Lake City] nearly 30 years ago, he was one of the first principals in the diocese to create a computer lab using first-generation Apple computers. Since that time, he has always ensured that the Skaggs Catholic Center [which includes Juan Diego CHS] has been a leader in using technology to enhance instruction. Now, over the last several years, he, along with his dedicated group of teachers, has created a blended online learning model that has expanded to other diocesan schools. I congratulate Dr. Colosimo on this well-deserved honor.”