St. Walter School in Roselle opens new kindergarten building, a legacy to retired principal
On paper, Mary Lloyd technically retired at the end of June after 29 years as principal of St. Walter School.
But she remained a fixture at the Roselle school over the summer preparing the transition for her successor. Lloyd also couldn't close out her tenure until the Catholic school reached a major "milestone" with construction of a new kindergarten building.
"It's one of our proudest moments," Lloyd said of the project. "This has just been something we have dreamed about for so long, and to able to pull the pieces together and to get our parish community to be so foundationally supportive of this and to allow us to make it happen has just been outstanding."
Many of St. Walter's benefactors say that dream wouldn't have been possible without Lloyd's leadership. So a ceremony to unveil the new building Monday also seemed like a fitting capstone to her career and the symbolic end to the Lloyd era at St. Walter.
"She's big on helping people, and you'd never know that she helped them," said Rob Burns, a longtime school board president. "She's a person of finding a way of getting it done."
Lloyd says she got things done at St. Walter not because of her influence but because of a tight-knit, collaborative parish and school community.
"It's always been a gift and privilege to be a part of this community, and I think today just speaks to our community and how supportive they are of our efforts and also of wanting, too, to see the vision and the mission continue forward," Lloyd said.
The vision for a new kindergarten building came together through a parish-wide fundraising campaign called "Serving By Changing and Growing."
"The parish responded remarkably," said Jerry Pisano, the co-chairman of the fundraising committee. "We have $1.3 million pledged. We've raised to this point cash in the bank about $800,000 of that."
St. Walter previously provided half-day kindergarten classes. But the new, 3,290-square-foot, two-classroom building has allowed St. Walter to start a full-day program this school year.
"There's a community need here," Pisano said. "We have parents who really need all-day kindergarten, and it wasn't available to them. We have households with two working parents, and this is something that was really required. So we welcome not only families who are parishioners to bring their children but anybody in the community certainly can use this service, too."
In November, school leaders also will request approval from the Diocese of Joliet to construct an early childhood center that would connect to the kindergarten building. That center would serve students ages 3 to 4, Principal Mary Kathryn Warco said.
Her predecessor returned to St. Walter to lead the dedication of the kindergarten building. While school supporters were looking back on her nearly 30 years as principal, Lloyd wasn't willing to draw attention to herself.
"I don't know about legacy," she said. "I would hope that we did our job well and that we've set a clear vision and mission for the successful future of our school."