Seiker Award

2024 Seiker Award Recipient: Marie Buonato, RSCJ

Marie Buonato, RSCJ will receive the Sr. Catherine J. Seiker, RSCJ Award on Sunday, October 20, 2024 after the  Alumni Weekend Mass in the school chapel. The Sheridan Road Alumni Association gives this award to an RSCJ, alumna or alumnus whose life exemplifies, to an extraordinary degree, the values and standards that Sacred Heart Schools represents.

Marie Buonato served as Director of Schools and Principal of the High School at Sheridan Road from 1985-1992. She led the school at a very challenging but successful time, winning the community’s love, respect and trust. Her love and commitment to the students, families and educators never wavered. She believed Sacred Heart alumni would change the world.

Jane Steinfels ASH’92 recalls when Sr. Buonato led the implementation of the 1990 Goals & Criteria at Sheridan Road. “She communicated strongly that the Goals & Criteria should guide our lives. When we came up with concrete ways to live them, she supported our proposals and provided resources for their implementation. She let us fail and learn from it. She always loved us.”

As an RSCJ and Sacred Heart educator, Sr. Buonato taught almost every grade level across many Network schools, also serving as a guidance counselor, principal, and Head of School. After “retiring” from her work in schools, she served the retired RSCJs in Albany, NY.

She remains passionate about the transformative power of education to open hearts. “While each Network assignment was meaningful,” she says, “the Sheridan Road years were special. There was such a wonderful spirit and caring faculty.” She is deeply touched by this award “from a place where I was really happy and loved.”

ABOUT THE SEIKER AWARD 

The Sheridan Road Alumni Association annually presents the Sr. Catherine I. Seiker, RSCJ Award during Alumni Weekend to an RSCJ, Sheridan Road alumna/us, or alumna/us from any Sacred Heart Network school whose life exemplifies, to an extraordinary degree, the values and standards that Sacred Heart Schools represents.

Alumni may nominate Seiker Award recipients here. Nominations for the 2025 award are due by April 30, 2025.

Sr. Seiker began her relationship with Sacred Heart Schools in 1945 as a teacher. In later years, she worked with school volunteers and served as Business Manager. A proponent of the Network’s alumni community, she worked tirelessly in the 1980s to produce the first Sacred Heart Alumni Directory and pave the way for the Schools' archives. Sr. Seiker died in April 2016.

Her life impacted so many: the children she taught and the alumnae and friends she kept in touch with. Her love of people brought out the best in them and her collaborative nature supported the many projects she managed.