At the beginning of Kathy Lorince’s teaching career 42 years ago, she was Baptist and teaching in public schools.
Today, she is Catholic and has been teaching and serving as the principal at Holy Rosary School in Stuttgart. After this summer, she’ll be giving up her principal’s office to return to the classrooms at Holy Rosary, doing what she loved from the very start.
Lorince met her husband David, “a Catholic boy,” in college and attended Mass with him for several years. Lorince taught in public schools at the time. The two got married and had a son, Alan, and Lorince converted to Catholicism.
After teaching in public schools for 16 years, Lorince got a phone call in 1999 that changed her life.
“The priest at Holy Rosary Church, Msgr. John A. Janesko, is my husband David’s cousin. He called and said, ‘Kathy, I want you to come over and be the boss.’ And I said, ‘Oh, oh no, I can’t do that.’ It was close to Easter time, and he kept calling. The principal called and said, ‘Kathy, I can’t be the principal, I’ve done it for two years and I can’t, can’t you come over? I’ll stay and just teach.’ And that’s how I got over here.”
Lorince has taught all grades from kindergarten through sixth at the school.
“I’ve taught first grade, I’ve taught third grade, all math levels, all religion levels, music. So this next year, my plan, if everything works out like it’s supposed to be, I already have a replacement coming, and she’s very excited. I’m going to stay and teach kindergarten and first grade.”
Lorince hopes the school will see higher enrollment and more staff in the coming years, as they have in the past two years, thanks to Educational Freedom Vouchers (EFAs) provided through the LEARNS Act. The school currently has around 70 students.
“Just seeing kids learn has motivated me,” she said. “They love you and the structure. Kids need it. My little ones say, ‘I can’t read,’ and I say, ‘Honey, that’s what I’m here for.’ And then by November and Christmas they can read, and they say, ‘Mrs. Kathy, I can read.’ And I say, ‘I told you. That’s what we’re here for.’”
Lorince knows that teaching can be a difficult calling. She told teachers to take it “one day at a time.”
“It’s hard to not look down the road, but you have to do it day by day. Just get in the trenches and you made it one more day and one more week.”
Holy Rosary School is currently going through ANSAA (Arkansas Nonpublic School Accrediting Association) accreditation. Lorince is remaining principal throughout the summer to help the school finalize the process.
She is looking forward to returning to the classroom and watching her career come full circle as she goes back to where it all began — this time, as a Catholic in a Catholic school.
“God is good,” Lorince said. “He always gives us what we need. Let him do it, and don’t be worried about it.”
