Mr. Martone

Mr. Martone has been one of the most life-changing teachers that I have had thus far, and I have been lucky to have him for not one, but two classes during my time here at Sacred Heart.  I will forever credit Mr. Martone’s Theological Foundations class as the course that changed the way I think and the way that I view the world.  He was the very first person to make me think about what I knew to be true, and what I knew to be false, but in the very best way.  I had always gone about my life without considering why I was myself, what made something truly good if free will existed, and the difference between belief and truth.  I had always accepted aspects of life without thinking twice, and without wanting to think twice.  From the very moment that I walked into his class freshman year until now, as a senior, I learn something new from him every day.  He taught me to not look for concrete answers, but rather, to look for questions.  In his classes, I have often found that questioning is the way to learn more about something – “by indirection find direction out” (Hamlet).  I have learned to use questions, not necessarily answers, as a guiding course of thought, and consequently, I am not scared to ask or engage with big questions and ideas.  Instead of being intimidated by a topic, I instead look for the questions that I can ask to get closer to the truth.  Instead of looking for an answer that might end a train of thought, Mr. Martone urges me to go beyond an answer, because a single answer is rarely ever true.  In doing this, he has made me a more complex thinker, more adventurous conversationalist, and more eager to learn about the world around me.

– Megan Maloney ’22