An Ohio Buckeye has made his way into Brebeuf’s halls. A people’s person, oldies music listener, and musical buff best describes Brebeuf’s newest, religion teacher, Mr. Mazzei.
It is week four of the 2024-25 school year and Michael Mazzei is already loving the Brebeuf atmosphere. He notes that it is quite different from middle school which is to be expected. Mazzei claims to like the freedom that comes with being at Brebeuf and believes it’s a great community. “It’s a little bit of a whirlwind but I’m adjusting quite well.”
Reading, going for walks, and spending time with family is what you can find Mr. Mazzei doing in his free time. Most of his family lives in Cincinnati, so Mazzei often travels to go see them.
Mr. Mazzei grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and graduated from Saint Xavier High School, which was also a Jesuit school. Unlike Brebeuf, it was an all-boys high school that held around sixteen hundred boys, with Mazzei graduating with over four hundred young men.
Ohio could not keep Mr. Mazzei for too long as us Hoosiers were calling the Buckeye to Indiana. Mr. Mazzei attended and graduated from Marian University. Once he graduated, Mazzei found his way back to Ohio to pursue teaching.
Mazzei notes that he “worked at a couple of schools in rural Ohio, two hours north of Cincinnati.” He taught fifth through eighth grade and a little bit of high school. “In the midst of COVID, I decided in the fall of 2020 to venture back to the Hoosiers state. I taught three years at Saint Luke Catholic School at Meridian Hills.”
There are a good number of Saint Luke graduates who now attend Brebeuf that are overjoyed to see such a familiar and friendly face from their eighth-grade religion class.
Megan Ragozzino ‘25, a previous student of Mr. Mazzei, recalls, “Mr. Mazzei is very passionate about theology which I admire about him.”
Emily Garten ‘25 also shares the same sentiments, “I really liked how he truly tries his best to connect with his students outside of class which helps stimulate true connections and better classroom collaboration.”
Mazzei worked for the Archdiocese for the past year. He learned very quickly that he was not a person who can work in an office. He believed his talents would be better used in a classroom setting. “My goal was to teach high school, so it brought me here.”
Brebeuf is more than happy to have such a loved teacher!
Freshmen and Sophomores are in for a blast as Mr. Mazzei will be teaching their required religion classes: Introduction to Religious Studies and the Life and Mission of Jesus.
Mr. Mazzei chose Brebeuf because of the similar values it holds from his formative years. “Those Jesuit charisms are very important to me so I feel like this is a place that comes full circle for me and a place where I feel very much welcomed and included and can be myself to the fullest.”
