One of this year’s Greater Green Bay Chamber’s Golden Apple nominees is NDA’s very own strength and conditioning coach and teacher, A.J. Giovanetti. 

Asa Poister, one of the senior captains of the football team, concurs with the nomination of Giovanetti: “A.J. means so much to our team because our culture comes from the weight room in the offseason and sets the tone for the rest of the season. He pushes us to be better athletes and young men every day.”

Nominees, according to the sponsors of the Golden Apple program, are typically high-quality educators in the Green Bay school system with noticeable “professionalism, leadership and innovation.” 

Giovanetti, who was also named State Coach of the Year in 2022, claims his path to teaching was “…all a part of God’s plan.”

Givanetti began coaching for NDA after he graduated from college in 2008. After coaching and being around the NDA community for a few years, he served as a fill-in teacher for a semester without any other background in teaching. 

From there, Giovanetti fell in love with teaching and went back to school to acquire his proper teaching credentials.

He has now been teaching for 12 years at NDA.

“I like working in a community where the standards and expectations are high,” said the coach/teacher. 

Givanetti values work ethic, especially in student athletes.

Regardless of challenges regarding time and work, Giovanetti says the people in the NDA community “make it work, and I’m grateful for that.”

And what would he say to the person or persons that nominated him for the Golden Apple award?  “Thank you … I do want to point out that this nomination is a part of the bigger picture and a representation of the strength of our faculty.”

The Golden Apple awards in Green Bay have been ongoing since 1994. Last year (2024) another Notre Dame Academy Teacher, Caitlin VandenWynngaard, won the award.

 The ceremony to recognize this year’s winners will be held on April 2, 2025.