To complete her schooling, Dr. Cheriese started looking for something more than a short-term, unpaid internship, and she unknowingly gave her first of many yeses to Catholicism.

"While I was at the University of South Florida, I started taking education classes and earned my master's in education,” she said. "To finish the program, I needed an internship, but I didn't want to give up having a paycheck. I remember praying, 'Lord, this is what's on my heart. Whatever happens, just let it happen.' St. Petersburg Catholic High School had an opening for a social studies teacher. I interviewed, and instead of hiring me as an intern, they hired me as a full-time teacher."

Growing up with a deep Christian faith, Dr. Cheriese always had questions about the Catholic faith. Why do they pray to Mary? What's with all the saints? These things didn’t make sense to her, so by being a history teacher at a Catholic school, she took her students’ education seriously and brought in priests to give talks about Catholicism in historical contexts.

"When we covered topics like the Protestant Reformation, indulgences, or the Church's response, I invited the priest to come speak to my classes,” she said "I wanted my students to hear the Church's perspective instead of just my interpretation. Those conversations completely changed how I understood the faith. I learned, 'No, Catholics aren't praying to Mary. They're asking Mary to pray with them.' It was all those little conversations that slowly started changing my perspective."

Eighteen years ago, when she became pregnant, she started looking for a job in education in the Tampa area to be closer to home. She found herself accepting a job at Tampa Catholic High School as a history teacher.

Over time, between her career at St. Petersburg Catholic and Tampa Catholic High Schools she began to see that she had a place and a calling within the Church through the warm welcome she received upon starting the new job. God was chipping away at her questions and hesitations by giving her opportunities to sing in praise bands, hear homilies that spoke directly to her heart, meet colleagues whom she felt comfortable having deep faith-based conversations with, and to be vulnerable within her work community.

After teaching for a few years, she started to discern applying for an open position at Tampa Catholic to be a dean, but she was not sure if that was the appropriate next step. She attended a prayer group on Tampa Catholic’s campus and saw a poster inside a classroom that said “God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.” Inspiration was sparked in her heart, and she took the next step in her career while unknowingly taking the next big leap in her journey to joining the Catholic Church.

Years later, during a transitional time in leadership at Tampa Catholic, people in the community encouraged Dr. Cheriese to apply to be principal, but there was a requirement to be Catholic to take the position. While Dr. Cheriese had an undeniable respect and appreciation for the Faith, she knew it would be wrong to be confirmed only for a job opportunity. On her own, she began to attend Mass on Sunday to see if her heart was in a place to make the jump into joining the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA).

Sitting in Higgins Hall at St. Lawrence Catholic Church for Mass while the church was under renovation, she looked around, and the Spirit began to move within her, and God’s perfect timing was about to strike.

“I remember looking around the room and being struck by the diversity,” she said. “I saw families from every background, children serving at the altar, people with disabilities, people of different races all worshiping together. That mattered to me. Coming from my own church background, diversity had always been important, and seeing it genuinely lived out in the Catholic Church was powerful. It wasn't just something people talked about; it was visible. At the end of Mass, they announced an open house for anyone interested in learning about becoming Catholic. I hadn't planned to go, but I stayed. That led me into the OCIA classes.”

In 2025, on Easter Sunday, Dr. Cheriese entered the Church.

Upon reflection, Dr. Cheriese said that there was not one moment that convinced her to be confirmed, it was God working on her for over a decade.

“It was Father John Serio giving me an opportunity when I was a brand-new teacher with no experience,” she said. “It was Father Chuck's homilies that always seemed to speak directly to whatever I was living through. It was the conversations we had after Mass and around campus, where I could ask difficult questions without feeling judged. Even when I saw differences of opinion within the Catholic community, I had people willing to help me understand them rather than dismiss my questions. Looking back, I can see that God knew exactly what He was doing 20 years ago when He first brought me to Tampa Catholic. What began as a teaching job became my life's ministry. God has used the Catholic Church in ways I never could have imagined.”