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30 | February 22, 2018 | The wilmette beacon school wilmettebeacon.com Loyola Academy principal lauded for excellence in leadership Golden Apple nominee promotes Jesuit education in Wilmette Eric DeGrechie Editor Receiving an apple from a student is a perfect way to start the day for any teacher or educator. Learning you might be getting Baal one made of gold for educational excellence also leads to a good morning. “I found out I was nominated before the holidays, but I didn’t know I was a finalist. Father [Patrick] McGrath came in and told me,” said Dr. Kathryn M. Baal, principal of Wilmette’s Loyola Academy. “I couldn’t believe it. I was very humbled.” Baal is one of seven Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award finalists for her initiative, dedication, perseverance and innovation. Gwendolyn Faulkner, second grade teacher at McKenzie Elementary, has been nominated for a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. The Golden Apple Foundation, which has given out awards annually since 1986, is a non-profit organization that works to inspire, develop and support teacher and school leader excellence in Illinois. It was created to offer outstanding teachers and educators the level of recognition enjoyed by actors at the Academy Awards. Baal, along with the other finalists, will be honored 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb 24, at the Hilton Rosemont-Chicago O’Hare in Rosemont. To be eligible for the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award, nominees must be a Pre-K-12th grade principal, head of school or leader of a public or nonpublic school in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry or Will counties. The candidates must have served in that role for five or more consecutive years. They also will have exhibited exemplary performance and outstanding leadership. Baal grew up in the Beverly neighborhood on the south side of Chicago and went to Saint Ignatius College Prep, where she was enculturated into the Jesuit value of service in one’s life. While studying biology, with a concentration in chemistry and mathematics, at Saint Mary’s College Notre Dame, she got involved in some educational service work and had an epiphany. “Education wasn’t something I pursued. Notre Dame really talked about it being a vocation and a calling,” Baal said. She was in a two-year education-based program, but Notre Dame only required doing one year. While Baal was thinking about medical and graduate school after the one year, she realized just how much she loved education. She got her teaching career going at Redemptorist High School in Baton Rouge, La. Baal followed that with teaching stints at her alma mater, St. Ignatius, and Maine South High School. In addition to teaching, she was getting more and more involved in the administrative side of things. This part of her career got officially going when she became the science department chair at Downers Grove North High School in 2004. Seven years later, she would wind up in her current role at Loyola Academy. “It was really to come back to Jesuit Catholic education. It was coming back to my roots,” Baal said. “It was a gift to me. I felt like I was at home when I got here.” Among her proudest accomplishments at Loyola include the O’Shaughnessey Program, which provides extra literacy instruction and study skills for at-risk students. Baal and her team have built a stronger foundation in science by offering a Physics First science education model, flipping the traditional biology-chemistry-physics sequence. As a result of these academic advancements and more, ACT scores of Loyola’s students have risen. More recently, her team redesigned the freshman orientation experience. To foster a deeper sense of faith, community and belonging from the beginning of a student’s Loyola experience, a house model was implemented and the orientation was expanded from one to three days. The orientation is part of The LA Way, a comprehensive leadership program rooted in the principles that have guided Jesuits for nearly 500 years: self-awareness, ingenuity, love and heroism. To encourage leadership among Loyola’s faculty members, Baal has established a number of faculty development programs, including Loyola’s Canisius Program. This selective eight-year program, which she co-created and team-teaches with Vice President of Mission and Ministry Gary Marando, fosters the development of Ignatian faculty leaders from a variety of disciplines committed to pursuing more in their respective fields and daily lives. Baal also created Courageous Conversations, a book and speaker series for students and parents. Now in its fifth year, the series features renowned authors and experts on difficult issues most influencing adolescents and their families today. This year’s series included a school-wide read of noted lawyer and social justice activist Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.” Teachers wove the complex themes of race, mental health and social justice presented in the book into their lesson plans. In November 2017, Loyola welcomed Stevenson, whose visit continues to ignite members of the community in conversation and reflection. Dr. Kathryn M. Baal Principal, Loyola Academy (since 2011) • Bachelor’s of science degree in biology with concentration in chemistry and mathematics from Saint Mary’s College Notre Dame • Master’s in education degree from University of Portland • Doctorate’s degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Loyola University Chicago To further encourage wellness and tend to the social-emotional needs of students, Baal and her team introduced a new schedule of the day. This new schedule reduces the number of periods from nine to six, allows for longer class periods to increase our students’ academic stamina in preparation for college and ensures that every student will have a flex period to use for exercise, study or teacher meetings. “Dr. Baal is a master educator in the Jesuit tradition,” Mc- Grath said. “At her core she is a teacher, and all that she does as principal is informed by that fundamental relationship between teacher and student. Innovation, creativity and diligence were the hallmarks of her science classroom. As an educational leader, Dr. Baal has a clear vision and is willing to do the hard work to bring it to life.” Baal continues to serve as an executive board member of the Benebikira Foundation in Kigali, Rwanda, where she supports the foundation’s mission to develop education and health care programs for the people of Rwanda. The 33rd annual Golden Apple Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Leadership will be held Saturday, May 19, at WTTW Studios in Chicago. To learn more about the Golden Apple awards, visit www.goldenapple.org. School News Clemson University Local students make dean’s list Several local students were named to the dean’s list for the fall 2017 semester. Declan B. McCarthy, of Kenilworth, is majoring in political science. Hannah Louise Elsman and Nancy S. Hillman, of Wilmette, are majoring in psychology. Georgetown University Wilmette resident interns in D.C. Jake Flanagin, of Wilmette, spent this fall interning for U.S. Senator Dick Durbin’s (D-IL) Judiciary Committee staff, working behind the scenes in the Senator’s Capitol Hill office as a graduate intern. Each year, close to 50 interns work in Durbin’s Washington, D.C. office. Flanagin is currently completing his second year at Georgetown University Law School in Washington, D.C. Before entering law school, Flanagin completed his undergraduate degree at New York University where he studied comparative literature. Following graduation, he served as a journalism fellow at The Atlantic where he conducted civil rights research, which played a key role in his decision to pursue a Law Degree. “Interning in Senator Durbin’s Judiciary Committee office has further highlighted the long-term impacts of elections on the Judiciary system,” Flanagin said. “Whether it’s attending hearings, conducting informational interviews, or helping staff brief the Senator, I have gained insight into the impact of the power within the Judiciary Committee and the role legislators play in shaping our legal system.” The intern responsibilities include assisting full-time staff in responding to judiciary-related topics, assisting with information inquiries, attending committee and agency hearings and briefings, researching legislative issues and policy questions, and observing floor proceedings. During that time, the students gain firsthand knowledge of the legislative process, learn about the inner-workings of the federal government, and develop valuable research skills. School News is compiled by Editor Eric DeGrechie. Send submissions to eric@ wilmettebeacon.com.
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