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the orland park prairie | July 5, 2019 | 5
CJB principal retires after decades in education
Amanda Del Buono
Freelance Reporter
In June, students closed their
school books and lugged home
their supplies, as they celebrated
the last day of school.
And as June came to a close,
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Catholic
School Principal Mary Iannucilli,
72, did the same as she
embarked on the next steps in
her life.
After decades of service and
11 years at CJB in Orland Hills,
Mary Iannucilli retired on June
30.
“I’m looking forward to new
horizons,” she said. “I have a
grateful heart for what my life
has been so far, and I feel that
there’s a brand new chapter to
be written, and I’m thankful for
that.”
During her time at CJB, Iannucilli
has made an impact on
the lives of her colleagues, students
and the Village of Orland
Hills overall. In fact, the Village
recently established May 15 as
Mary Iannucilli Day and presented
her with a key to Orland
Hills.
“It was certainly a surprise,”
Iannucilli said. “[Mayor Kyle
Hastings] came into school one
morning and wanted me to come
into the broadcast room for an
announcement. … It was just a
lovely, lovely surprise.”
CJB has been nationally recognized
as a Blue Ribbon School
twice while under Iannucilli’s
leadership – once in 2008 and
again in 2018. Julie Budlove,
computer teacher at CJB, attributed
this success directly to Iannucilli’s
leadership skills, noting
her compassion and dedication
to both students and faculty.
“She’s very loyal to the school,
and she’s done amazing things
with the school,” Budlove said.
“It’s a really big accomplishment
to win it, especially twice. … I
truly believe that the school is so
successful because she’s such a
great leader.”
Lisa McLeish, a fifth-grade
teacher at CJB, added, “It’s a
national, really prestigious status.
There are only a few private
schools in the country, and it also
goes to public schools, too.”
Budlove said Iannucilli will
be remembered well beyond the
honors.
“I’m going to remember most
how caring she is and how she
treated all the students,” Budlove
said. “She just treated them
all with such respect, and she
treated them as if they were her
own children and how she would
treat someone that she cared
about. She’s so caring.”
McLeish added, “She’s dedicated,
and she really genuinely
cares about all of the students.
Teachers find her approachable.
Kids look up to her as a role
model.”
Iannucilli’s legacy also will be
defined by her encouragement
and mentoring of others within
the school. For example, Iannucilli
hired Le-Ann Brochous as
an art teacher, but encouraged
and inspired her to take on her
current role of assistant principal
at CJB.
“When the opening came to
be, she was my biggest supporter
and encouraged me to apply,
and it’s been great working with
her,” Brochous said.
As an administrator, Brochous
has learned from Iannucilli how
to look at the bigger picture and
be a better listener, she said.
“The person coming up has big
shoes to fill, but I’m sure we’ll
be fine, because [Ianucilli’s]
such a good leader that people
know how to do their jobs and
know how to do it well because
she’s given them the freedom to
do their jobs,” Brochous said.
A bittersweet feeling was running
through the halls of CJB as
students and staff said goodbye
to Iannucilli. In fact, the staff
hosted a surprise send-off party,
themed for Iannucilli’s favorite
sports team: the Chicago Cubs.
Although these accomplishments
are great, Iannucilli said
she just enjoyed the opportunity
to help children and continue
learning herself.
“I think that education is such
a dynamic and organic field that
staying in it, you constantly
choose to learn, if your mind is
open,” she said. “And that’s why
I like it, because there’s always
something new to learn.”
The journey
Iannucilli always knew she
wanted a purposeful life, dedicated
to helping children succeed.
“I wanted to feel how I could
impact children and provide for
them opportunities for the future,”
she said. “I thought teaching
is that opportunity to be able
to provide children with promise
and hope for the future, and
working with them and making
that kind of an impact by teaching
was why I chose teaching.”
After attending Dominican
University, then Rosary College,
and double-majoring in English
and philosophy, she joined the
Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters.
“It was there that I began to
become much more interested
in teaching,” Iannucilli said. “I
did some of that at the convent.
When I left the convent, I decided
that I was going to pursue
teaching and then ended up taking
up courses, obviously, to get
licensed in teaching and then got
a master’s degree in counseling,
because I wanted to help children
emotionally and socially.”
Upon finding her way into
education, Iannucilli spent a few
years in elementary education
and quickly moved to secondary
education, where she taught
English and theology and provided
some counseling to students.
From there, her career
flourished, working at the Office
of Catholic Schools, reaching assistant
superintendent before assuming
her role at CJB.
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Principal Mary Iannucilli participates in
a recent graduation ceremony at the school, from which she retired
after 11 years of service there. Photo submitted
Her career has made a full
circle, ending in elementary education,
where she began decades
ago.
“Most of my career has been
in secondary, and I’ve really
enjoyed ending my career with
elementary, because Cardinal
Joseph Bernardin is such a wonderful
school. We have wonderful
families [and] wonderful
children. It’s been a joy for me to
be here,” she said.
Looking ahead
Although this chapter of Iannucilli’s
book may be coming to
an end, another is about to open.
“God has blessed me with
good health, so it’s time to do
new things,” she said.
Looking ahead, Iannucilli has
no plans to stay away from CJB.
On the contrary, she is expecting
to remain active at the school in
a volunteer capacity, she said. In
this same spirit, she plans to expand
her volunteerism, with the
desire to train in hospice work.
But all of her time will not be
dedicated to service. Iannucilli is
most excited to travel and experience
new places. In September,
she is to embark on her first trip
to the Greek islands.
“I’m really looking forward to
it,” she said. “I’ve only been to
Italy outside the United States,
so I’m looking forward to experiencing
the Mediterranean
area.”
She also hopes to make time
for her other hobbies, which
have sometimes gone neglected
because of her career. Among
them, she hopes to experience
the arts through theater and museums.
She also is planning to
spend more time with her dog,
Chance.
Her staff, on the other hand,
has high hopes for her to attain
one of her dream jobs: a greeter
at Wrigley Field.
Despite their sadness to see
Iannucilli leave, staff and students
wish her the best, McLeish
said.
“She deserves it,” McLeish
said. “She’s put so much into it
to make CJB feel like a big family
and a really nice place to be,
and so I just think she really deserves
this and some time for her
and time to get to explore what
she’s interested in and travel. We
all feel that she really deserves
it.”