Rosary's new president promotes value of all-girls education in Aurora

Being president of something requires a strong belief in its mission, and girl, does longtime education administrator Thomas Choice ever believe in the mission of Rosary High School in Aurora.

The Catholic high school is all about girls and empowering them to achieve their greatest potential as college-bound young women. In the Dominican order's tradition - focused on prayer, study, community and preaching - the school guides girls to learn and lead, mature and prosper.

As its new president, Choice's job is to share that mission with the world around Aurora so the school established in 1962 can continue to churn out successful women graduates rooted in faith and ready for college.

"What's most important is you have to really buy into what it is that we're doing," Choice said about taking on the role of president - for any organization.

"I'm a big proponent of a girls, Catholic, college-prep education … I'm very familiar with the concept and I'm already passionate about it."

Choice began his tenure as Rosary's first president Aug. 1 after the school's leaders decided it would be best to add the position to serve as something of a CEO. The move was designed to free up Principal Sister Ann Brummel to stick to education instead of operations.

"I can focus on my teachers and education and curriculum and students," said Brummel, who is entering her fourth year as Rosary principal. "Because that's why we're a school."

Choice, 57, of Batavia comes to the job from a brief period of semiretirement after more than eight years as president of Kishwaukee Community College, west of DeKalb. An educator at heart, Choice's eventual strong connections to Rosary began to form when he got his first teaching job out of college at Marmion Academy, an all-boys Catholic high school in Aurora and Rosary's counterpart.

While the Arlington Heights native and Rolling Meadows High School graduate was a young teacher there, a part-time office worker suggested he meet her daughter, who was about the same age. Susan O'Brien was a 1978 Rosary graduate who would become a physical therapist and Choice's wife.

The couple later sent their two daughters to their mother's alma mater, with Meghan graduating in 2010 and Rachel in 2014. Their father joined the school's board of directors as Rachel completed her senior year. And when board members decided they wanted to hire a president, they turned to Choice.

Since January, he had been mostly retired but teaching a course in legal and ethical issues in higher education at North Central College in Naperville. He said he enjoyed getting back into the classroom but knew he would be the right fit to step in as Rosary's president.

In addition to overseeing communications, finances, buildings and grounds, and operations personnel at the school, Choice said he will be its public face, reintroducing Rosary to the Aurora community by networking with service clubs and making personal connections.

He's prepared to tell the Rosary story - not so much of a school with 320 students, 45 employees and a $3.6 million operating budget funded by donations and tuition of roughly $10,000 a year - but as a place designed to let girls thrive.

Choice says the school's smaller size allows students to pursue multiple activities at once - including sports, music, theater, academic teams and student government - and to take on leadership roles in all of those organizations.

"It's all girls, all the time," Choice said. "They have all those opportunities and don't have to compete with another half of the school that happens to be male."

Speaking of the lack of boys, a single-gender population is seen as an advantage among the Rosary set, especially since Marmion is nearby to bolster cheering sections and coordinate activities. (Choice is well-versed in the partnership because his son, Matthew, graduated from Marmion in 2012.)

Without boys, Rosary's students can be one-track-minded about what school leaders say is most important: learning.

"They don't have to worry about trying to impress the boy sitting next to them, or 'Am I wearing the right makeup?'" Choice said. "They can just be here, be who they are, focus on their academics and not worry about the relationships from a dating standpoint. For a lot of the girls, that's really freeing."

Brummel remembers the feeling from her own time at the school, and she said she's excited to work with Choice to continue to foster such an environment.

"I want the girls to experience the same joy that I had when I was a student," Brummel said. "It was a family when I came and the girls call it a family now. That's the cool part."