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mokenamessenger.com life & arts
the Mokena Messenger | January 25, 2018 | 21
New St. Jude principal aims to strengthen schools’ arts, writing
Jon DePaolis
Freelance Reporter
It may be her first year on
the job at Saint Jude Catholic
School in New Lenox,
but Kathy Winters is no
stranger to catholic school or
teaching.
The Mokena resident,
who is midway through her
first year as principal of St.
Jude, attended St. Richard’s
Elementary School and
Lourdes High School when
she was a child. Later, she
attended Loyola University
Chicago and University of
Illinois at Chicago, earning a
bachelor’s degree in medical
laboratory sciences.
But after spending 15
years working in clinical
laboratories for hospitals,
Winters was ready to move
in a different direction.
“I always enjoyed teaching,
and there’s a lot of a
teaching involved in [clinical
laboratories],” Winters
said. “You’re teaching new
lab techs and patients.
“I always have had that
desire to be a teacher, and I
had taught preschool [religious
education] classes before
I went back to school to
get my teaching certificate.”
Winters went back to
school in 1997 to get her
education degree. From the
beginning, she knew she
wanted to go into the catholic
school realm.
“It was never even a question,”
she said. “I’m a product
of the catholic school
education — all my schooling
except for two years of
lab tech school. That whole
aspect of it is very important
to me — the idea of teaching
the whole student, not
just academically and emotionally
but also spiritually.
That’s always appealed to
me. It’s such a calling to be
involved in the bringing up
of students in that aspect
also — that you are a part
of raising them to be good
people and have that faith.”
While attending school,
Winters worked as a firstgrade
teacher’s aide at St.
Mary’s in Mokena. In 2003,
when she completed her
degree, Winters became a
first-grade teacher there.
After the school expanded,
she became a junior high
teacher, teaching science
and other subjects for 10
years or so.
She said it wasn’t difficult
transitioning from teaching
younger students to junior
high students.
“Kids are kids — they’re
just taller and bigger,” she
said.
Along the way, Winters
developed an interest in curriculum
planning. She decided
to go back to school to
earn a degree in administration.
Then, last March, the
principal position at St. Jude
opened up. She applied and
was hired.
Her first day was June 1,
2017.
“Being a principal in a
catholic school, you’re kind
of wearing more hats than
you do in a public school,
because you’re the one responsible
for a lot more
of those things,” Winters
said. “Whereas, in a public
school, they have a curriculum
director and assistant
principals. This position [at
St. Jude] kind of encompasses
it all. It’s really nice.”
In her role, Winters said
she interacts with the students,
parents and teachers.
She said her first year has
gone really well.
“I have a wonderful staff,
and the kids are phenomenal,”
she said.
Among some of her highlights
in the first year, she
said she was able to get the
St. Jude principal Kathy Winters has spent her entire career in education working for Catholic schools, and grew up as a
student through the Catholic school system. Photos by James Sanchez/22nd Century Media
seventh-graders to participate
in the science fair again
after a brief hiatus. She also
is working with the junior
high teachers to create a
more rigorous writing curriculum.
Winters said she also
wants to strengthen St. Jude’s
fine arts curriculum.
“Right now, kids just have
music and art once a week,”
Winters said. “I’d like to see
them have it more often.”
She also noted how the
smaller class sizes at St.
Jude allow teachers to dedicate
more individualized focus
on the students.
“Each individual student
is not just a number on a
class roster,” Winters said.
“We do take a more individual
approach to each individual
student. Even though
we don’t have all the resources,
we do tailor instruction
to each student and their
(Left to right) St. Jude students Bobby Kernwein and Olivia Fitzgibbon, both of New Lenox,
pose for a picture with Kathy Winters, of Mokena.
specific needs. We’re huge struck by since I’ve come
proponents of differentiated here to St. Jude is the support
learning.”
of the other people in the
She also mentioned the parish,” she said. “We have
sense of camaraderie and cooperation
between the differ-
involved in the school and
a wonderful pastor, who is
ent facets of the parish. very supportive of the students
and the staff. We “One thing that I’ve been
have
a wonderful parish staff. Everybody
works together.”
For more information on
St. Jude School, the school,
located at 241 W. Second
Ave. in New Lenox, will
host an open house at 10
a.m. Sunday, Jan. 28.