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Marty and Heather Stessman pose with her daughters Reese and Reagan Huscher \u2014 both alumnae of Hayden High School in Topeka.<\/p>\nMarty and Heather Stessman pose with her daughters Reese and Reagan Huscher \u2014 both alumnae of Hayden High School in Topeka.<\/p>\n
Welcome to The Principal\u2019s Office! Every other week, we feature a Q&A with a principal from schools across the archdiocese. This week, meet Heather Stessman, principal at Corpus Christi School in Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Q: How long have you been principal at your school?<\/p>\n
This is my third year at Corpus and I was principal at St. Matthew\u2019s [in Topeka] for nine years.<\/p>\n
Q: What made you want to lead a Catholic school specifically?<\/p>\n
I was a public school teacher, and then I went to St. Matthew, and then I went back to public school for a few years. I just really missed having my heart and my head in the same place. While I loved my jobs at public school, being able to express my faith, live my faith and hopefully pass it on to people was just really a tug at my heart.<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s one thing happening at your school right now that people outside of the building or community may not know about?<\/p>\n
Our staff is starting to look at a book called \u201cBelonging Through a Culture of Dignity.\u201d \u2029We just started a process of professional development that is based on culturally-responsive teaching. At its core, it is seeing the God-given dignity of every person and helping all people \u2014 the kids and the adults in our community, our school \u2014 to feel seen and known by us and to remind them that they\u2019re loved by God.<\/p>\n
Q: Tell me about a moment that reminded you why you do this job.<\/p>\n
This is completely God working among us: We have had four faculty members and a spouse come into the church or join OCIA since I\u2019ve been back at Corpus. I\u2019m just so happy about that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s something your school does that you\u2019re proud of?<\/p>\n
I\u2019m really proud that we walk the talk of being a family centered environment. We truly work to collaborate with families on what\u2019s best for kids academically, emotionally, but most of all in their faith journey.<\/p>\n
Q: If a student had to describe you in one word, what would it be \u2014 and would you agree?\u00a0<\/p>\n
Friendly. I would agree with them most of the time!\u2029I have my moments [laughs]. I try to be out in the rotunda in the morning and greeting kids with a smile and their names as much as I can. I\u2019m still learning names. I think it\u2019s important. It really helps people to feel seen when you know their name.<\/p>\n
Q: Outside of school, what\u2019s something people would be surprised to learn about you?<\/p>\n
I love to dance. I was a dancer in college. Actually, Jenny Yankovich, the principal at St. Paul [in Olathe], and I were on the dance team together at Washburn!<\/p>\n
Q: What\u2019s one word or phrase you find yourself saying to students or staff all the time?<\/p>\n
Tuck in that shirt for me, please!<\/p>\n
Q: Vacation in the mountains or at the beach?<\/p>\n
Beach!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marty and Heather Stessman pose with her daughters Reese and Reagan Huscher \u2014 both alumnae of Hayden High…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":477382,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[155,157,156],"class_list":["post-477381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi","tag-corpus-christi-headlines","tag-corpus-christi-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=477381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/477381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/477382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=477381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=477381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=477381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}