Terry Lonergan Photo by Michael Alexander

BY ERIKA ANDERSON

Staff Writer

ATLANTA -- Named principal of St. John Neumann Regional Catholic School in Lilburn, Terry Lonergan said she feels like she’s coming home.

“It’s like going back to your roots,” she said. “There just comes a point in your life when you want to be more involved in your church and in your religion.”

A parishioner of St. Andrew’s Church in Roswell, Lonergan will be assuming her first principalship this fall after teaching and administering in public schools. She most recently served as assistant principal at Sope Creek Elementary School in Marietta. Lonergan said she is excited about leading a Catholic school, where faith is openly discussed.

“In a Catholic school you have that common bond of faith, where we are all basically coming from the same background,” she said. “I think that provides real strength in terms of development of character and morals.”

Lonergan believes that public schools have also made character development a priority, but that in a Catholic school setting, “knowing that God directs our lives, there is a stronger feeling of safety.”

Lonergan, a native of New York, received her bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala. She went on to earn a master’s degree in elementary education from Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y., and an education specialist degree in educational leadership from the University of Alabama in Gadsden. Though Lonergan has also had experience in the corporate world, she said her heart has always been in teaching and that she would often train other employees.

“It didn’t seem to matter what I did, I always ended up in a teaching capacity,” she said. “It’s a role I’ve always enjoyed and been comfortable in.”

Lonergan began her teaching career in 1966 instructing first- and second-graders in New York. Her experience in Georgia began in 1968 teaching middle school at Osborne Junior High School in Marietta. From 1969-77, she taught grades three and five at Eastside Elementary School in Marietta. After creating and managing her own business, she returned to education in 1985, teaching in several Marietta schools and serving as an assistant principal in Acworth.

Though she loves teaching, Lonergan is looking forward to leading a school as a principal.

“I’m very excited and I feel really blessed to be at this location and in this position,” she said.

As a principal, she feels that she will have the opportunity to serve even more children.

“You really feel that you can make a difference and (being a principal) gives you the opportunity to touch more lives and have interaction with more people,” she said. “I just hope to be able to affect positive changes for children. I’m always looking for what’s best for the children. That’s my main focus.”

When asked what she is most looking forward to, Lonergan said that there were “so many things.”

“I’m looking forward to being a lot more in touch with my faith and the church,” she said. “And I’m looking to hopefully making a positive difference during whatever time I’m there (at St. John Neumann).”

Lonergan said she feels her strengths are in forming “relationships with students and people, in general, and a heavy curriculum background.” Though she hopes to steer the school in a positive direction, she is quick to point out that she is “not going to be rushing in there trying to change things.”

The children at St. John Neumann will not be the only students.

“Life is a journey and it’s all part of growth,” she said. “Anything new we take on is just moving (us along) that path towards growing … There will be things (the students will) teach me and hopefully they’ll learn from me.”