New Year...New Ministry!

As I have alluded to in previous entries, I changed jobs after the 2007-08 school year!
July 1st I began a new ministry as principal of St. Roman Parish School. St. Roman is located on the "south side" of Milwaukee--a thrilling 3.6 miles from my house! I am very familiar with the Parish, as that is where I have attended Mass with the White House Sisters for the past 5 years; I am a cantor and a Eucharistic Minister as well. With the White House, we have come to know Fr. Bill very well these years. I was thrilled when I saw that St. Roman's School had an opening for principal, I applied, interviewed, and bah da bing...I am now the Principal of St. Roman's! Woo hoo!



There are many gifts of this transition for me: It's WAY closer to my home, it's a familiar environment, and my heart is committed to Catholic Education in an urban setting. I also have made friends with people who minister in the parish: my fellow cantors (some have kiddos in the school, RuthAnn was also just hired as the co-director of faith formation...watch out world, here we come!), the Liturgist/Musician (Oh Holy Father of the Organ, Patrick), RaeAnn the other co-director of faith formation, and of course Frs. John and Bill. It's nice to walk into a new ministry knowing that you have support and partners on the journey.



So since July 1st, I have been opening cupboards, setting up my office, trying to find things, make too many to-do lists to count, etc. I was so happy when my awesome Administrative Assistant, Cindy, started on August 1st...it was getting a little too lonely and quiet in that building. We've been buzzing like crazy to get things prepared for the teacher's arrival this week.

YEP...you read that correctly...THIS WEEK. AHHHH!



We began our 2008-09 school year together on Wednesday, August 20th with a retreat day!
Sr. Stella DeVenuta (she did let us do the Streetcar adage in the beginning STELLLLLLAAAAA) a Lake OSF from Milwaukee was our facilitator. Stella is an incredible artist, spiritual guide, and retreat guru. (Go visit her website sometime....let it speak for itself!)



Her theme for us was Seeing Things Whole. We prayed and played keeping mindful of our gifts and how they fit into the whole. It was a great day of community building and beginning our year in the context of prayer.



Thursday we had a morning full of in-service led by moir. The Home and School provided us with the yummiest breakfast and treat bags to welcome us back...how nice! I wanted to talk about expectations and all of the nitty grittys involved in being a new principal in a school. I created a powerpoint called: Help! We have a New Principal...Now What do We do? I led a conversation in developing common language and expectations that we have/created as an "educator team".



We ended our session Thursday with handbook Jeopardy! Complete with the section on Bloodborne Pathogens (oh yeah...no silly video this year folks!) and prizes...good prizes. I strategically had the prizes set out all morning for my faculty to drool over wondering in anxious anticipation on how they will get to partake in the great variety of goodies I had. :-)



Today was an exceptional day! I led a "visioning process" for the faculty on creating character sketches and commitment statements for our students and our practice. It was all done in the context of recognizing the wisdom of the past and present so that we can put into action what is needed for a sustainable future. The sharing and discussions were quite profound and I was very much energized by the process.



Those kiddos come on Monday for "Welcome Back Day" (Drop your books, meet your teacher, get your picture taken...woo hoo!) and Tuesday is the first full day of school. I can't believe summer is over!



To all of my blog readers who are in the educational fields...blessings on your new years! More updates to come!