Crete principal to receive St. Thomas Aquinas Award
By Deacon Matthew Hecker, Ph.D.
for the Register
Sr. Mary Alma, CK, principal at St. James School in Crete, is the 2024 St. Thomas Aquinas Award Winner; School Administrator of the Year.
Sister Mary Alma grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., but was the child of native Nebraskans.
“My dad and my mom knew they wanted a big family,” she explained, “so when my dad got a nice job offer at Cornell University (in Ithaca), they moved the family.”
She was born in Ithaca, the fifth of seven children. She had a “blessed” childhood, with a Catholic grade school “that really was very impactful.”
“I credit the Sisters that taught me, really my first-grade teacher,” she said, “who gave me a great gift of knowing how to talk to Jesus as a friend. It’s quite a blessing to grow up with Jesus as your childhood friend, knowing you can talk to Him. It came from my family, but definitely my Catholic grade school as well.”
After high school graduation, Sr. Mary Alma attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), at the suggestion of her grandfather. She became active in the Newman Center and around her junior year in college, her vocation to the religious life was strongly confirmed and she joined the School Sisters of Christ the King.
“We’re a community whose primary apostolate is Catholic education,” Sister Mary Alma explained. “I’d been in Teachers College (at UNL) before I met the Sisters. My dad actually, when I was in high school, told me he thought I’d be a good teacher. I took that to heart, and I’m so glad I followed that path.”
No one begins a career in education as an administrator. Instead, the starting place for an educator is in the classroom, as a teacher.
Accordingly, Sr. Mary Alma began her education career as an elementary school teacher.
“I did teach for eight years,” she said. “Then Mother Joan Paul assigned me to be an administrator. In obedience, I went from teaching to administration.”
She served as head teacher at St. James School in Crete for two years, taking administration courses in the summers. She finished her administrative degree while serving as principal at St. Peter School in Lincoln and was the principal there for nine years.
After that, Sr. Mary Alma was asked to do vocation and formation work for her religious community, which she did for five years. She then returned to St. James School in 2015.
“I’ve been here ever since,” she said. “Altogether, I’m in my 21st year of being a principal.”
When asked about her longevity as a school administrator and what she found rewarding about the position, Sr, Mary Alma responded, “It’s so different (being a principal) for (professed) religious. Our deepest desire is the Lord and his will. It’s almost like personal preferences don’t matter. What else is there besides God and his will?”
“I know that what we’re doing is important and good,” she continued. “That’s a beautiful thing, to be able to spend yourself for something that is so important and so good, and this is critical. We’re talking about the formation and salvation of souls. And how you start in the beginning of life is crucial. Maybe that’s why I’ve been able to continue as a principal. I want to give it my all, every day. To do the best I can because I love Christ and I believe the Catholic schools are critical.”
She said her recipe for success as a principal is simply to ask Jesus, “What’s your will? What’s the next thing? And I listen for an answer.”
“He’s in charge of the whole day,” she said. “When you’re open to that, He shows you, ‘put your attention here.’ That’s how I do it. It’s just prayer and faith. Let Him lead and be in charge.
“I couldn’t do this job without Him,” she stressed. “I don’t have the wisdom or the strength. It can be a very joyful thing to live that way because you can rely on God to help and to make things go according to His plan.”
Under the leadership of Sr. Mary Alma, St. James School has been moving toward fully restoring education in the Catholic tradition. This was the subject of Bishop Conley’s recent pastoral letter, “The Joy and Wonder of Catholic Education.”
Asked about the difference, Sr. Mary Alma said, “Education in the Catholic tradition is education in wisdom and virtue.”
“The emphasis is not on test scores and college preparation. Rather, it’s on forming the beautiful person, the good person. It’s looking for the very best in literature, and thought, and giving it to children at age-appropriate levels. It’s the formation of the memory, to place good and wise and beautiful things deep within their heart.
“History is a huge piece,” she continued. “Seen in a special way, it’s the drama between God and man. Children learn they are a part of that story.”
Sr. Mary Alma invites and welcomes visitors to the school.
“Come and see our happy children,” she said.
As an administrator, Sr. Mary Alma’s dream is to grow the school.
“We are really limited by our small space,” she explained. “Only a limited number of students can be served. I would love to build another building, adding child-care and another pre-school class. Then we could add grades seven and eight to our current building. We have so many Catholic children in Crete who don’t attend or can’t afford to attend St. James. But with more space, and with more Opportunity Scholarships, they could!”
Sr. Mary Alma has faithfully, lovingly and humbly served our Catholic schools for three decades: “What else is there besides God and his will?”
Sr. Mary Alma will receive her award Oct. 13 at the third annual “Saints & Scholars” dinner to celebrate Catholic schools, educators and benefactors in the Diocese of Lincoln. All are welcome to attend. See www.goodshepherdscholarship.com for more details.
