Kathryn Baal wasn’t sure she wanted to teach. As a university student, medical school also beckoned, she says. When she did choose teaching, she aimed for elementary classrooms, but discovered she had a passion for teaching high school science.
Her passion took her from the classroom to administrative leadership. For the past seven years, she’s been principal of Loyola Academy in Wilmette. Now the Golden Apple Foundation has named her a finalist for its 2018 Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award.
Baal is one of seven finalists who will be honored at a Feb. 24 brunch in Chicago. The winner will be announced in the spring, according to the foundation.
The Golden Apple award program has recognized excellence in Illinois classroom teachers since 1986. It launched its leadership award in 2014, recognizing one kindergarten through high school principal or head of school for similar excellence, according to the foundation’s website.
Loyola President the Rev. Patrick McGrath said Baal, who he has known for 20 years, has a vision of education that particularly suits her to the Jesuit high school.
“The two things that come immediately to mind about Katie is that, first, fundamentally and at her core, she’s a teacher, and then that she’s informed and driven by the Jesuit mission,” he said. “Education is not simply for the sake of academics, but of the whole person, so that we might become who God wants us to be. Katie gets that.”
Baal became Loyola’s principal in 2011, leading 2,000 students and a faculty of almost 200. Since then, the school expanded the use of technology in the classroom and planned to modernize its campus.
When Loyola officials announced Baal’s nomination earlier this month, they praised her for helping to launch several educational initiatives:
* Revamping science teaching at Loyola with a “physics first” model that flipped what had been a traditional biology-chemistry-physics sequence, which school officials said helped to increase students’ ACT scores
* Presiding over redesigned support services to help at-risk students, and over a literacy initiative to enhance all students’ fluency in reading, writing and critical thinking skills
More Top Picks Smart Speakers
* Reducing the number of periods from nine to six, allowing for longer class time and a flex period students can use for exercise and study
* Helping redesign freshman orientation experiences and encouraging leadership among faculty members through new programs, as well as creating a book and speaker series for students and parents called Courageous Conversations.
Baal said she’s proud of successfully completing schedule changes, and of helping create the LA Way, which places freshmen in different houses, expands orientation from one to three days and focuses on developing student leadership.
She also said she was glad to help Courageous Conversations to engage students in social justice issues. This year, the program featured attorney and activist Bryan Stevenson, author of “Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption.”
“Even if you don’t agree with the entire book, it’s message does fit our mission; we are all broken, and we are all in need of forgiveness,” she said. “I think that spoke to many of our kids.”
Baal said she was flattered and humbled to have been nominated for the award but said she didn’t believe any of her accomplishments were singular. As principal, one of her most important jobs is to support faculty and staff, and ask how to do so better, she said.
“I don’t think one person by themselves can lead an organization. Who I am and what I’ve achieved is because of who I’ve worked with.”
To learn more about the Golden Apple awards, including the Stanley C. Golder Leadership Award, go to www.goldenapple.org.