Sof Fr.tudent memories Paramo from the past fifty years: Rather than a detailed biography, the editors thought it would be more effective to have Fr. Paramo’s students and colleagues express their experiences of his ministry over the past fifty years. Below are some of these expressions.
circa 2005 circa 1989
1976 Mark Majkowski Business Consultant I want to say that you were always prepared and aware. The fact that you looked for the right and to give proper credit was both eye opening and what I now do myself. I’ve really never seen students who didn’t want to build on what they already knew or ones who could entertain topics lacking a reasonable competency predicate. Things seem impossible sometimes as students, but you are limited as a teacher in what you can ask that will test competency. Of all items, I thought the most important thing you taught was not physics at all, but that your brain was less operative while watching TV than when sleeping. What impressed me is that you had the materials you wanted to cover, a way to convey them, and a way to evaluate mastery. Also, and most importantly, you prepared what you planned to do and how to do it. And you never “hid” the answer. You gave us the tools to understand the problem and showed us how to apply them. You also used multiple cues which you may not have realized helped even those with undiagnosed learning differences that no one was aware of, understand. You wrote, pointed, talked, and repeated. Anything that was important was mentioned several times in different ways. And you were a little more interesting, as you almost never stood still, just watching you move made one more active in listening and comprehending. A man 40 years ahead of his time.
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1976 Greg Budde Technology Coordinator
Fr. Ray Paramo, like many of his teaching colleagues at Catholic Central, was a gifted classroom teacher. He taught both physics and theology at CC with great dedication to his students. I remember taking an honors physics course at the University of Michigan where much of the content taught in a semester was a review of what I had learned from Fr. Paramo at Catholic Central. My wife and I have been blessed to hear Fr. Ray preach at Mass on a few occasions over the years and can testify that his teaching ability remains strong. It is always a great joy to encounter Fr. Ray at social events, and I congratulate him on his fifty years of service to the CC family.
1977 Joe Luther Attorney/Business Owner
I vividly remember taking Fr. Paramo’s theology class as a senior. The class was called “Man’s Search for Meaning Through Science” but the computer abbreviation for the class in the syllabus was simply “Mng Sci.” Perhaps in part because of the unusual name and also in part because it was being taught by the physics teacher, the class had a bit of a mysterious reputation. Despite my concern that it might not be an easy “A” like most theology classes, my curiosity won and I took the class. I can remember like it was yesterday on the first day of the class when Fr. Ray said that during this class he will prove that God does exist (it is not a matter of belief), and he will do so without having to settle the debate between Darwin’s theory of evolution and the book of Genesis. Well, he certainly got this seventeen year-old’s undivided attention! He went on over the next few months to explore so many ideas of science, evolution, and the cosmos while underscoring the divine and miraculous origin of matter, life, and, most of all, man’s conscious ability to know and understand its beauty. Over the years I have been asked, what was the best class you ever took? There is no doubt that no class in grammar or high school, college or law school had a greater impact on my life than Fr. Ray’s Mng Sci class. Every time I look at anything in nature or the sky I feel a deeper sense of connection to it all because of Ray Paramo. His brilliant understanding of science and nature is only outshone by his deeper understanding of God’s love and infinite grace. I feel very blessed to have been his student in such an important subject matter, and even more fortunate to call him my friend (and always teacher) now.
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