Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2008 / OLMC's first lay principal took roundabout path
OLMC's first lay principal took roundabout path
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 25, 2008
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Our Lady of Mount Carmel principal Timothy Scanlon addresses a class at the school. Scanlon, who completed a 20-year career in the U.S. Army and retired as a first sergeant, this school year became Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School's first lay principal. |
Wyandotte — If you asked a high school-aged Timothy Scanlon what his career path would look like, ending up as a high school principal would have seemed amusing.
His grades were less-than-stellar, and his main goal in high school was getting out of high school.
"The day after I graduated, I was in the Army," he recalled.
How things have changed.
Now, after a 20-year career in the U.S. Army and a decade in Catholic education, Scanlon, 55, is in the middle of his first year as the first lay principal of Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School, holding a master's degree and the respect of his students and staff.
After being a combat engineer, Scanlon was ready to retire from the Army in 1990. He did a lot of traveling — eight or nine moves in 20 years — and was preparing for a different lifestyle.
"My last year I was in the Army, I was running into a lot of kids," he says. "They were coming into the army and I noticed their reading and writing."
It wasn't good.
"That's when I started thinking, 'That's not right,'" Scanlon says. "I thought maybe I can help one or two, and get into education and do some good."
After retirement, he used his education benefits from the armed forces to earn a teaching degree. There was no question he wanted to go into Catholic education, he added. While at Madonna University in Livonia, he received an assignment as a student teacher in his hometown of Wyandotte at Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School.
He earned a master's degree in Catholic school leadership from Madonna University, and went on to teach full-time at Our Lady of Mount Carmel before becoming principal of St. Agatha School in Redford Township. St. Agatha became St. Katharine Drexel for a year, before closing in 2004. Scanlon then became an assistant principal at Bishop Foley High School before taking the helm at Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School.
"The object was to hire someone (as principal) who was a traditional Catholic and who would fit into the Mount Carmel community," says Mary Cerulla, development director at the school, as well as a mother and president of the parish council. "We needed to find a fit."
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Students say Scanlon is strict, but always approachable and helpful. |
In Scanlon, they did. Having gone to St. Joseph grade school in Wyandotte and Gabriel Richard High School in Riverview, he was at home in the area. And having spent a stint teaching at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, he was at home in the high school.
Teachers there say they like what he brings to the table.
"The kids respect him. They totally, 100 percent respect him," says Kathy Gorsky, who's taught at Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School for 30 years. "He stops into every classroom, talks to the kids for one or two minutes, and looks around to see what they're doing."
The students agree.
"He's firm, but he's a fair person," says senior Martin Reed, 18. "And he's fun to be around. He comes up with new ideas, such as spirit week and homecoming."
Martin's classmate, Mark Zielman, says he likes the changes to the school building that Scanlon has implemented — such as creating a social room for lunches, and fixing up the school's trophy case.
"Some of the changes he's made are really quite positive," Mark says.
Foremost, however, staff and students alike appreciate having somebody who lives the Catholic faith with them.
"He leads by example," says Cerulla. "You see him in church. You see him genuflect. This is the guy who was in jeans and a baseball cap the day before, painting, or sweeping the floor with you. And you see him genuflect and be reverent. The kids are seeing this. They're never going to admit this, but it's making a big impression."
Actually, some are going to admit it.
Junior Victoria Kulaszewski says she likes that Scanlon can teach first-hand about the faith.
"He's not just saying it because he works at a Catholic school," says Victoria, 16. "It's part of his life. It's what he really feels. It's good that you can look up to him and feel comfortable if you need to talk about something."
As for Scanlon, he prefers to talk about the school's accomplishments and programs, rather than his own contributions. He's proud that the 85-student Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School offers four advanced placement courses for its students to earn college credits — and it's being accredited to add a couple more next year, too. He speaks, too, of the school's active calendar and new fundraising initiative.
But his favorite aspect of the school?
"It has to be watching the kids mature and grow," Scanlon says. "And watching parents support the schools, and form little communities."
Although the Our Lady of Mount Carmel High School community was saddened when it learned the long line of principals from the Felician Order would come to an end, most agree — they've found the right lay principal to focus on a faith-filled education.
"Education is a ministry," Scanlon says. "We are here for the kids, and for the faith."
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