Joan of Arc principal stepping down after nearly 50 years at Lisle school

Sister Carolyn Sieg had a simple goal when she became principal of Lisle's St. Joan of Arc School in 1967.

"What I wanted to do was make the school just a happy place," she says now. "I wanted the kids to like to come to school and I wanted the school to be more innovative."

Now, almost 50 years later, Sieg is preparing to retire at the end of June secure in the knowledge she's done just that.

Ask those who know her or worked with her and they'll tell you she's made it a point over these many years to know all of the school's students by name and to build on the school's family atmosphere. She's kept Joan of Arc up to date with ever-changing technology, they'll tell you, and, maybe most important, she's made a positive difference in a lot of young lives.

The school community will show its appreciation with a series of events Friday and Saturday to celebrate Sieg's innumerable contributions.

Current and past students will gather for the weekly student body Mass at 8:15 a.m. Friday and another Mass at 4 p.m. Saturday will be followed by a reception in the gym for adult friends and family members.

Kim Clements, the school's special events coordinator, says she has received an overwhelming response from those who have been invited to participate.

"I want her receiving line to be out the door," Clements says. "She's touched so many lives; I really hope we're packed."

Sieg's ties to the Catholic school go back even further than her time as principal - she attended classes here in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Inspired by the Benedictine sisters who taught her, Sieg professed her vows as a nun when she was 21.

She went on to teach in Texas and Chicago before returning to Joan of Arc to teach and eventually become principal.

Almost from the start she strived to make the school more innovative, regularly attending conferences in an attempt to remain on the cutting edge of technology in education. Longtime Assistant Principal Louise Collins remembers Sieg fighting for SMART Boards in classrooms before many other elementary schools had even considered them.

"I've worked under so many principals and I was so impressed," Collins says. "She's such a wonderful person; you just run out of adjectives."

Today, a multimedia technology lab, also promoted by Sieg, offers more than just desktop computers for students - children in grades two through eight collaborate to produce a weekly live news broadcast show.

Her dedication to innovation was affirmed even further when Joan of Arc received the Education Department's Excellence and Blue Ribbon awards. Sieg also was the inaugural recipient of the Diocese of Joliet's Bishop Roger L. Kaffer Outstanding Principal Award in 2010.

Throughout her tenure, Sieg has focused on making the school more family-oriented and supporters say her success can be measured, in part, by the number of alumni who have sent their own children through their alma mater.

Mara Cooney is one of five siblings who attended Joan of Arc. All of her cousins also graduated from the school and two of her seven children are the last to pass through. Steve Christ, who graduated in 1980, was another alumnus who had the unique experience of having Sieg as his principal, his children's principal and a colleague when he worked with her for several years on the school board.

He says being sent to the principal's office typically has a negative connotation, but doesn't at Joan of Arc.

Sieg invites students to her office on a regular basis if they achieve high scores on their math or English tests and lets them pick a prize out of a treasure chest in the corner. She uses it as an opportunity to open a dialogue with each student to either encourage them to do better or keep up the good work.

"She really took an interest in the kids and literally knew every student by name throughout the years," Christ says. "It's always been that way."

To remain involved with junior high students, Sieg employed the Christian Witness Award for sixth- through eighth-graders to nominate each other for random acts of kindness.

That passion for education won't stop during her retirement. The diocese has asked her to mentor incoming principals.

Rev. Gabriel Baltes, pastor of St. Joan of Arc parish, says he's worked closed with Sieg for the past seven years and believes her new role will be a perfect fit.

"I think it's a testimony to how the diocese respects her," Baltes says. "I think that's the perfect job for her. She has so much wisdom and an incredible eye for detail."

Sieg says she will miss the students most when her days as principal come to an end.

"The students are the love of my life, just to walk in and see their faces and be greeted by them," Sieg said. "I'll miss that the most."