Ahead of New School Year, Diocesan Principals Spend Time in Professional Development

Michelle Dellinger

Today’s Catholic: What are you looking forward to as a new principal?

Dellinger: I am looking forward to all the programs that we did not have in place coming back after COVID. We’re still working on bringing all those programs back, like the science fair, student government, the theater program, all of those things. It will be nice to see those programs come back. I’ve also been a parishioner there for the past 20 years, and my kids all went through the school.

Today’s Catholic: What is it like to be a principal in a Catholic school?

Dellinger: I came from a public school, so I am very looking forward to actually having faith being the center of everything again. I felt like I was losing myself in the public school system, and now I can actually be excited again about my faith and being able to actually talk about it again. I’m very much looking forward to that.

Fernanda Becker, Principal at St. Joseph School, Fort Wayne

Fernanda Becker

Today’s Catholic: What are you looking forward to as a new principal?

Becker: I am looking forward to meeting the children and the families and getting to know their journeys and just being able to enjoy our community life. I was a teacher at Bishop Dwenger, a Spanish teacher, for 18 years, and I did not pursue a principal position right away because I wanted to be closer to my children while they were little.

Today’s Catholic: Why did you choose now to become a principal?

Becker: My children are now a little older, and they attend St. Joseph. I was also very kindly, warmly welcomed by Father Kevin Bauman and the hiring committee there. The entire community has been very welcoming. It just felt like the right time to do this.

Francisca Flores, Principal at Our Lady of Hungary School, South Bend

Francisca Flores

Today’s Catholic: What are you looking forward to as a new principal?

Flores: So many things, but I’m so excited to work with the community and the students and families over there, especially because it’s a Hungarian community, and Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, and the amazing people over there. I was in San Diego for four years teaching Spanish to my wonderful kids. I will miss them so much!

Today’s Catholic: Why did you choose now to become a principal?

Flores: Since I started in education, I was always looking for a place to make more impact on our families, and teaching is a great way to impact students and families. When you are the principal, though, you have a chance to touch so many hearts and so many people with all these kids coming to the school. That’s my most exciting thing … touching hearts and making them take the way to becoming saints one day.

Photos by Nicole Hahn
Principals of Catholic schools in the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend gather for a photo with Bishop Rhoades, Superintendent David Maugel, and Associate Superintendents Jeff Kieffer and Julie Williams after Mass as part of a professional development day on Monday, July 29, at St. Felix Catholic Center in Huntington.

Bishop Rhoades enjoys lunch with several of the Catholic school principals from the diocese during a professional development day on Monday, July 29, at St. Felix Catholic Center in Huntington.