St. Mary School, Shrewsbury, hires new principal

BY BILL DOYLE
CFP CORRESPONDENT

Liam Wintroath said he’s honored, but also somewhat pleasantly surprised, that he’s been hired as principal of St. Mary Elementary School in Shrewsbury.
The reason he’s surprised is that he’s only 28 years old.
“It is definitely younger than most principals,” he said. “My particular experiences and the preparation I’ve been doing with the degree work and whatnot has helped prepare me and get me to this point. So that’s why I’m entering at a younger age.”
When he attended Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota in Winona, he wanted to become a teacher. Doing anything else never entered his mind until after he served two years in the Lasallian Volunteers program with the De La Salle Christian Brothers as a middle school teacher at San Miguel School in Chicago. For $600 a month, he taught social studies and physical education and coached co-ed soccer, boys basketball and softball while living in a former convent across the street from the school with a handful of others. His housemates included two Christian Brothers, one of whom was the principal of the school.
“That experience in Chicago,” he said, “really transformed my thinking as far as what can I do for others. How is my faith talking to me? How is God talking to me in this moment?”
Mr. Wintroath said he feels prepared to become principal, but he’s also willing to learn from others to develop into a better leader. He is not married so he expects to be able to devote more time to his duties as principal. He will begin on July 1.
Mr. Wintroath attended Catholic elementary school and high school in Minnesota before graduating in 2017 from Saint Mary’s with a degree in social studies and his initial teaching licensure.
After teaching at San Miguel School, he joined the Urban Catholic Teachers Corps at the Lynch School of Education at Boston College in 2019. He earned a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Boston College in 2021. As a member of the Catholic Leadership Cohort at BC’s Lynch School of Education, he is pursuing a master’s in educational leadership and policy, and his initial licensure for school administration in Massachusetts. In addition, he taught the past four years at Mother Caroline Academy in Dorchester while also serving as assistant dean of students.
“Liam comes from a strong Catholic family,” said Msgr. Michael F. Rose, pastor of St. Mary Parish, “and is an actively practicing Catholic as well as a life-long student in Catholic schools from elementary school and high school, through college and graduate school. He is passionate about the mission of Catholic schools and St. Mary School in particular. He has the ability and potential to thrive as the spiritual, operational and instructional leader of our school community. Liam sees Catholic education to be his life’s vocation.”
Because of his father’s career and later because of his own, Mr. Wintroath has moved around a lot. He has lived in 12 homes and attended nearly 10 schools in six states. So, he hopes to stay in Shrewsbury for a while.
As a graduate of Saint Mary’s University, he expects to feel at home at St. Mary Elementary School.    
“I find it funny, but I also think there’s a tiny bit of divine intervention along the way,” he said.
Mr. Wintroath was inspired to enter the field of education by Tom Epperly, his elementary school physical education and health teacher and baseball coach at Guardian Angels Catholic School in Chaska, Minnesota.
“It wasn’t a job to him, it was his mission,” Mr. Wintroath recalled. “He took time out of his day to build relationships with all the students he had, with families, with his colleagues. He was a beloved person.”
When Mr. Wintroath was in eighth grade, Mr. Epperly continued to teach despite being diagnosed with lymphatic cancer.
“He lost a lot of weight, he lost all of his hair,” Mr. Wintroath said, “but what he didn’t lose was joy and his spirit and his faith and his belief, not only his Catholic faith, but what he dedicated his life to – Catholic education.”
Mr. Epperly died shortly after Mr. Wintroath graduated from eighth grade, but he remains an inspiration for him to push himself to do more for others.
As soon as he entered St. Mary Elementary School for a tour, Mr. Wintroath felt a sense of warmth, he said. He was struck by the sight of smiling students collaborating with their teachers.    
Former St. Mary principal Jeannie MacDonough, who returned as part-time acting principal after Magda Harrison left in December, served on the committee that interviewed five of the 10 applicants for the position.
Thomas Kennedy, chairman of the St. Mary School Advisory Board, headed the committee. Msgr. Rose, Karen Bigda, Matt Beaton and Brigid Carlson also served on it.
“With increasing administrative duties each year,” Msgr. Rose said, “while also working on a second master’s degree in educational leadership and policy, Liam is well prepared to lead St. Mary School. St. Mary School will benefit greatly from Liam’s youthfulness, enthusiasm, positive energy and commitment.”
Mr. Wintroath would like to boost enrollment by creating opportunities to learn outside the classroom. At Mother Caroline Academy, students shadow doctors for a week at a time at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. They even get to use ultrasound machines.
Mr. Wintroath said he considers a Catholic education as nutrition for the whole person.
“It provides students with the knowledge and the skills,” he said, “to be servant-leaders, to be able to be people for and with others, rather than people who are just for themselves. I believe Catholic education not only unlocks the mind, but it unlocks the heart and it unlocks the soul. To be able to step into a community where they’ve been doing that for decades and they are staffed by people who are mission driven and truly believe in it, I’m excited to do that.”