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Changing hearts and minds through a career in counseling and the Global Exchange Program

Unitas: Unity. The quality or state of being made one. Malvern has strived to achieve this in our classes with our fellow Malvern brothers, our faculty and staff, the Children of God who struggle in Philadelphia and Camden, and many other places around the Tri-State area. For the past twenty-seven years, one member of the Malvern has gone above and beyond all limitations, and has brought Unitas to an international level. This teacher is Ms. Lida Rosle.

Born in Zeist, Holland, Mrs. Rosle grew up with surrounded by many different European cultures. It was in Holland that she met her husband, who, at the time, was a Captain in the United States Air Force. The two got married, and moved back with her husband to America, and settled down in the Philly area. Fueled by her love of learning and passion cultures, Rosle attended West Chester University, and received a Bachelor’s of Arts in Spanish. Knowing that she wanted to continue education through teaching, Mrs. Rosle then received her Master’s of Education from Immaculata.

Twenty-seven years ago, Mrs. Rosle was a teacher at Shanahan. Due to Shanahan’s lack of enrollment, Mrs. Rosle was let go after one year. An unexpected surprise was awaiting for Mrs. Rosle; however, because the President of Malvern Prep, Father Duffy, who had received a list of the Archdiocesan teachers laid off that year, asked her to come in for an interview. Coincidentally, the same year she was offered a job at Villa Maria High School, but chose Malvern because she “knew that working with boys would be a lot easier.”

Ms. Rosle served as a counselor for eleven years, and also taught different levels of Spanish. Recently, she took over the role of the Director of the Global Exchange Program. Rosle had a vision that students should partake in some international and cultural submersion at some point in their high school career, and with the help of Father Flynn, Mr. Stewart, and Mr. Valyo, she was given the freedom to make her vision a reality. The Global Exchange Program still continues to this day, sending about 25 Malvern students to Spain, Australia, and Panama each year, and it’s all because of Mrs. Rosle’s perseverance in following through with her vision.

In reality, Ms. Rosle has taken almost as many trips abroad as she has exchanged. Throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Ms. Rosle began taking Malvern students on trips to Spain and Mexico during their Easter Breaks, and she participated on two different occasions for the Peru service trips.

Mrs. Rosle has “never had a dull day at Malvern”. She is very thankful to have been able to work with such great colleagues, and teach so many amazing students. She even jokes that “for someone with a short attention span, it speaks highly of Malvern that she has lasted more than a quarter of a century at this place.” Just as she speaks highly of us, we would like to thank her for all the joy and opportunities she has brought to the school, and applaud her great dedication for the past 27 years.