Mr. Reese Fuller

This fall, Reese Fuller will complete his transition into the role of Chaplain on the Cade Campus. Mr. Fuller spent the past year as interim Chaplain while continuing with his full-time teaching responsibilities. Over the past 13 years, he has taught eighth-grade English and upper school humanities and advanced placement courses. He also has become a postulant in the Episcopal Church of Western Louisiana, and has begun the discernment process to be ordained.  

 

As Chaplain, Mr. Fuller will continue to teach, but with a different focus, this time on World Religions. Through a course that explores the five major world religions, Mr. Fuller's goal is to foster religious literacy so that students understand the commonalities as well as the differences between beliefs and practices. Every eighth grade student will complete the semester-long course.

 

Education is one of three pillars within a strong spirituality program in an Episcopal school. A second is community service. Mr. Fuller and math teacher Dr. Laurie Huffman, ’86, are working together to strengthen ESA’s community service program, which was limited by the constraints of the pandemic. 

 

“Now that the restrictions are being lifted,” Mr. Fuller says, “we’re looking at how we can serve both our campus community and the Acadiana community. How can we build on the relationships we have with local organizations and start new relationships with others?”

 

The third pillar of ESA’s Episcopal identity is the Chapel program, and it’s where Mr. Fuller’s focus has been for the past year. After spending the entire 2020-2021 school year unable to come together in a shared Chapel space, the ESA community felt disconnected. Last year, Mr. Fuller worked with students and teachers to begin the process of rebuilding community through Chapel. “Chapel is so essential to who we are as a community,” Mr. Fuller says. “We have to constantly ask ourselves how can we do it better.”

 

Last fall, Mr. Fuller introduced the theme of love. He challenged students and teachers to examine where we see God on a daily basis, how love operates in our lives, and how we act upon it. “Within our Episcopal identity is the commandment that we love everybody,” Mr. Fuller explains. “As an Episcopal school, our doors are open to all of God’s children, and we are called to love our neighbors as ourselves.”