Mr. João Gomes, Dean of Studies and Instruction at Mount Saint Joseph Academy, manages the many different academic programs, and creates each student’s schedule specific—a rigorous and timely job. 

“Mr. Gomes is super student centered, quite innovative around girls’ education in particular, and really skilled in building relationships,” Principal Blessing said. “…he uses his personality and humor in a way to welcome others while always keeping an eye on what is best for the Mount and our future.”

When he’s not creating schedules, Mr. Gomes’ life revolves around his children. He doesn’t have any pets, but he’s always running around to get his children to their games and activities. He has three children, Mary, Francis, and Jude. Mary attends Agnes Irwin, where Mr. Gomes used to work, and Francis goes to the Catholic school near their home called Holy Child.

His wife, who holds a PhD in creative writing, works in advertising and is a published poet. They moved to Pennsylvania because his wife ended up getting the opportunity to teach poetry at St. Joseph’s University.

A little known fact is that Mr. João Gomes was born in Portugal, and he lived there for a few years before coming to the US. When visiting Portugal for the first time without his parents, he was able to experience freedom, and explore new opportunities. If he had the chance to travel to Portugal more often, he would because it is a clear representation of his childhood.

Like many families in Philadelphia area, Mr. Gomes enjoys heading to Ocean City during the summer with his family, spending the weekends and weeks at his in-laws house. Creating memories that his children will always remember, as well as feeling happy and thinking about how delightful and wholesome these trips are.

Gomes’ impact has helped create a hardworking and relatable environment, and some might express, “He’s a really positive person and he’s very helpful,” Katie Duffy ‘27 said.

“One day I was just in the hallway, which is outside his class, this was last year, and I was super stressed, we were learning the unit circle in pre-calc and I had no understanding of it, and he saw me and was explaining that I was frustrated with it and didn’t understand it, and he stopped, he was clearly going somewhere, and he stopped and just stayed with me for like 5-10 minutes to explain and help me get it,” Ramsey Tabor ‘25 said. 

In addition, Mr. Gomes has felt very included and supported by the community through their friendly faces and thoughtful words. Since Mr. Gomes became a new member just last year, he explained that students were scheduling appointments with him just to say, “Welcome, hope you had a great summer.” 

Overall, the Mount students and faculty have experienced a positive change from Mr. Gomes’ hardworking and relatable attitude towards working with students and staff.