Pat Chivers, director of communications and advocacy for the Archdiocese of Atlanta, was elected to the board of the Catholic Academy for Communications Arts Professionals as second vice president for membership at the 2012 Catholic Media Conference in Indianapolis in June.

Chester Willette, a parishioner of St. Helena Church, Clayton, is supporting the pro-life efforts.

A long-time member of the Knights of Columbus, Willette helped put up a billboard just over the state line in North Carolina with an anti-abortion message.

Passing drivers can see the bold letters promoting “Choose Life” and “Thanks Mom!” The billboard also includes a toll-free phone number where people can call for help.

“If I save one little soul, they may grow up to find a cure for cancer or grow up to be president of the United States,” he said.

It took more than two years to build the billboard, which is 32 square feet and is seen by many cars on a busy highway, said Willette, 86, and a retiree from the grocery industry.

Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) and its ACE Advocates for Catholic Schools presented their annual awards for “significant contributions to the ministry of Catholic education” to Molly Carlin, who starts this year as principal of Queen of Angels School, Roswell, and Kyle Pietrantonio, who is beginning as associate head of school at Holy Spirit Preparatory School, Atlanta.

Carlin and Pietrantonio received the Michael Pressley Awards for Excellence in Catholic Education. The award recognizes two graduates of the ACE teacher formation program, helping to mold the next generation of educators for Catholic schools.

Carlin taught in a Pensacola, Fla., Catholic school while she was in ACE’s “Service Through Teaching” program, from which she received a master of education degree in 2002.

Pietrantonio graduated from ACE in 2005 after teaching in Mobile, Ala. Prior to his new position at Holy Spirit Prep, he served as principal of the lower school there. He is also working toward a doctorate in educational leadership and policy. In 2011, he was selected by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory to serve on a feasibility study board for a Cristo Rey Catholic high school in Atlanta.

Both he and Carlin were hailed by ACE as especially enthusiastic educators whose passion for serving children in Catholic schools inspires their colleagues as well as students.

Pietrantonio said in a news release, “I have been blessed to have some of the most influential people in my life guide my professional path and affirm and reaffirm my choice to serve Catholic schools—first as teacher and now as a teacher of teachers.”

The Pressley Awards are named after the inaugural director of ACE’s master of education degree program.

Look for Father Frank McNamee to be running the hills around Buckhead as he puts in the miles for a fundraising 13.1-mile road race at the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend.

Father McNamee is running as part of Team Andrew in the December race as part of an effort to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

The rector of Christ the King Cathedral has run 5K (3.2 miles) in the past and another half marathon. He said his effort is motivated by Andrew Vessil, a student and cancer survivor at Blessed Trinity High School, Roswell, and his own mother, who died from cancer when she was only 46.

His goal is to raise $10,000 and he’s raised $5,650 as of Friday, Aug. 10.

To help Father McNamee achieve his goal, go to http://bit.ly/P5qF9t.