GIVING THEM WINGS
These locals credit their success to their Catholic school education
FOR these New Yorkers, Catholic school was the solid foundation they needed to jump-start illustrious careers.
Susann Varano, Fontbonne Hall
Jumping from public school to Fontbonne Hall Catholic high school in Brooklyn as a high schooler greatly impacted a young Susann Varano, 53.
“It felt safe and nurturing — everyone knew everyone — it was a family,” said Varano.
One of the reasons Varano’s parents made the school switch possible was, “so that I could focus and not be distracted,” she said. “We chose this high school for its academic excellence. I’m selfdriven and wanted to get to the next level. I wanted to be a doctor.”
Varano went on to graduate from Chicago Medical School and pursued a director of geriatrics fellowship at Yale University.
“They offered me a director position, which was intimidating,” she said. “The physicians at the time were older men with bow ties. One room full of their brain power could explode. I didn’t fit the stereotype. But one of the reasons I accepted the position stemmed from the empowerment and self-independence I’d attribute to Fontbonne. They taught us how to be independent females who could be anything we wanted to.” Another reinforced teaching was knowing that “there’s someone higher than you, which made me so grateful, grounded and confident,” she said. Varano then went to Yale University and undertook a geriatric medicine fellowship, becoming a director for the inpatient hospital elder life program, now called Elder Horizons. She dabbled in clinical trials and eventually stepped down from her Yale position to focus on them. When COVID-19 hit its peak crisis mode, Varano was offered an opportunity to be one of the few doctors internationally to conduct the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine clinical trials. “I feel I can make a difference in saving people’s lives,” she said, which again, is something she credits Fontbonne with instilling in her. “We were taught to be grateful for what God has given you and to take those gifts and maximize them. I believe I was given the gifts of passion and compassion, and I use them to the max to make people’s lives better, and to decrease their pain and anxiety about their illnesses.”
Paula Williams Madison, Cardinal Spellman HS
Born and raised in Harlem to Jamaican immigrant parents, Paula Williams Madison, 69, started at Cardinal Spellman HS in the Bronx in 1966 as a ninth grader. It was a move filled with purpose and hope.
“If you had aspirations for you and your children, you sent your kids to Catholic schools,” said Madison. “For Jamaicans, Catholicism was an upwardly mobile religion.”
At Spellman, Madison said her personal philosophy developed, which included political-savvy and leadership traits.
“There was heavy social change going on,” said Madison of the late 1960s. “African-American students here were in an abject minority and some of us were politically active. We held a forum on campus which included the NAACP, Black Panthers and more. Socially, we were running up against the buzz saw of what a Catholic school expected its students to be.”
Madison attributes her educational encouragement to the nuns and priests at Cardinal Spellman. “They told us, ‘You are excellent students and leaders,’ ” she said. “We had the largest class of National Merit and National Achievement scholarship winners in New York state. We were pioneers at that time. Our graduating class of 1970 was the first in Spellman’s history to see black kids going to some of the best schools — New York University, Vassar, Swarthmore, Wesleyan and more. We broke the dam.”
Madison went on to earn her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, become a master’s candidate at Syracuse University and to forge an impressive career in journalism. This includes several “firsts,” including her tenure as vice president and news director for NBC4 New York and later running KNBC in Los Angeles.
Madison retired from NBCUniversal 10 years ago but has not slowed down. She served on Spellman’s school board for nearly two decades, was vice president of the Los Angeles Police Commission; CEO of the Los Angeles Sparks basketball team for four years and served on the WNBA board of governors.
“I’ve never been discouraged from pursuing what I’m interested in. I was taught at Spellman that if you’re not going to strive for the tip top, you probably didn’t belong at this school,” said Madison. “Thank goodness they pushed us to strive for such high standards.”