Amy (Fleming) Newlon, who came to La Salle in 1986 from St. Philip School in Greenville, Rhode Island, holds a unique distinction in the history of the school – she was the first female class president when she was elected to that position by her peers her sophomore year.

Given that accomplishment and others such as junior class vice president, president of the student council her senior year, and serving on the student council each of her four years at La Salle, it not surprising that the final note in her yearbook  says “Work for the United Nations and be a United States Senator.”

While Amy has not become a U.S. Senator, she has worked on Capitol Hill and continues to live in the greater Washington, DC area after six years as a student at in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and more than a decade working for the Bishops’ Conference in DC in their Migration and Refugee Services and their Secretariat for Latin America.  She is now the national coordinator of research and social analysis for the Jesuit Conference located in downtown DC.

But back to those years at La Salle.

“My parents gave me the choice of going to Bay View, Mount St. Charles or La Salle,” said Amy.  “I had heard wonderful things about La Salle and I wanted to meet new people so it was my choice.”

“I was aware that La Salle had just gone co-ed the year before I started and I knew a few kids from my neighborhood who went to La Salle so I had a pretty good idea of the environment I was about to enter,” said Amy, a mother of two girls (Kaley (8) and Keira (5)) in her first visit back to the school since graduating in 1990.  “Thanks to the welcoming attitude of the faculty and staff as well as upper classmen, I felt very comfortable from day one.  I recall Mr. Lisi, in particular, as making new students feel welcome but he was not alone in that attitude.”

“I never gave any thought to possibility of girls not being accepted so I did not hesitate to run for student council as a freshman,” she continued. “I remember thinking that running for student office was a good way to get to know people.  I was very happy to serve on the student council and made a lot of good friends there as well as throughout the school.  I never felt anything but welcome from upperclassmen and faculty.”

Amy said that in her sophomore year, when Brother Frederick Mueller had become principal and had put in place a structure of class deans and class officers, she ran for class president and won.  “Brother Fred was a real visionary and did many things that built acceptance of co-ed.  As the mentor to the new student council and class officers, he really helped us to develop our leadership potential.”

“Mr. Butler taught legal studies and social studies and was a strong influence on me as were the directors of our campus ministry Brother Charles ,Sister Liz, and the religious education staff who engendered a strong commitment to social justice. ” said Amy as she walked through the Shea Science Building with other favorite faculty members still at LaSalle - Brother Frederick, Mrs. Leanne (Iachetti) Romani and Mr. Robert Lisi.  Upon seeing the new performing arts theater at LaSalle, Amy recalled being in the Mime Shows and choreographing and performing dance routines in the Talent Shows.  She says that peforming arts are still  in her blood as she passes on a love of dance to her daughters, and continues to teach, study and perform part-time with the Swan Ballet Dance Company in Fairfax Virginia.

“I felt very privileged to get a La Salle education.  We were held to high academic standards and it served me well when I went to Georgetown where the standards were also very high.  I pursued International Relations at Georgetown because La Salle inspired me to both service and social justice ,” said Amy who, among other things, was the president of the International Society of Foreign Affairs while at Georgetown.  “I will always appreciate that at La Salle the approach was to mould and educate the entire person, not just through academics but in all facets of life.”

Back to the here and now.  “I met my husband -- and the father of our two girls --  ‘out on the town’ in Georgetown a few months after I finished graduate school in 1997.  We were married on July 31, 1999 in Newport, R.I.  In fact, just yesterday, in celebration of our 10-year anniversary and as part of our summer family visit to R.I., we were able to bring our girls to mass at the Church where we were married and to visit the site of our wedding reception.”.

Amy plans to attend her 20 year La Salle class reunion next year.

(Amy lives in Burke, Virginia and can be reached at her home at 703-239-9267; or at her DC office: 1016 16^th Street, NW Washington, DC 20036; 202-629-5919; anewlon@jesuit.org; or via Facebook.)