Introducing the Principals
March 19, 2010
Dear Parents of St. Michael and St. Gabriel the Archangels Catholic Schools,
When the Archdiocese asked us to be part of the amazing educational opportunity being presented to our children, we were very excited. Through this unification process, we know our personal collaboration throughout the rest of this school year and during the 2010-2011 school year is of the utmost importance. Because of this, we started meeting immediately to work on the coming year. Both of us are dedicated to making St. Michael School a school which continues the current excellent programs and enhances the education of all students.
This coming year will be a year of great excitement, opportunity, and academic excellence. We hope you will come on the journey with us. We wanted to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves to you.
Mr. Matthew Goddard
As a life-long member of St. Michael Parish, I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to work with Miss Sarah Watson as the leaders of the school I grew up supporting. My parents (Dave and Jeri) chose this parish/school for my two sisters (Traci and Jenny) and me to enrich our Catholic faith. I attended St. Michael, kindergarten through eighth grade, graduating in 1995. I continued my education at Cardinal Ritter High School. During High School, I participated in many sports and other extra-curricular activities. After graduating from High School in 1999, I selected Franklin College to major in Physical Education, and to play tennis at the collegiate level. I transferred to IUPUI after 2 years and graduated from there in 2004. I then started my professional life as a physical education teacher at Our Lady of Lourdes and All Saints. In the 2005-2006 school year, I became the physical education teacher at St. Michael. As my years went on at St. Michael I took on more and more duties and realized I wanted to become an administrator. Therefore, I enrolled in the IUPUI Urban Principal Program and finished my classes last summer with my degree and license coming this May. That program, along with the current principal of St. Michael, Steve Padgett, helped me develop my own leadership and educational philosophies. These have established who I am as a principal.
I married my wife (Nichole) in the summer of 2006. God graced us with a baby boy (Quentin) on April 11, 2009. We are also the guardians of Nichole’s brother (Tyler) who is currently a junior at Cardinal Ritter High School. My family resides in Wayne Township.
With this opportunity to work with Miss Watson, who is a dedicated child-centered leader, we will make this transition as smooth as possible.
Miss Sarah J. Watson
As a native west-sider, I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to work with Mr. Matt Goddard as shared administrators at St. Michael School. Both St. Michael and St. Gabriel are close to my heart. One set of my grandparents were founding members of St. Michael Parish, followed by the second set joining in 1953. Both of my parents, their siblings, and all of my siblings attended St. Michael School, and my parents both taught at St. Michael in the early 1970s. I graduated from St. Michael in 1993. After St. Michael, I followed a long line of family members to Cathedral High School, graduating in 1997. In 2000, I graduated from Purdue University with degrees in Special Education, Psychology, and Social Studies Education. I received my Masters in Educational Administration from the University of Indianapolis in 2007.
After graduation from Purdue, I came to St. Gabriel School and began my teaching career. While at St. Gabriel I taught fifth grade, fourth grade social studies and language arts, resource, and acted as the lead teacher for the school. During this time, I also was the youth minister at St. Michael Parish. In 2006, I was hired as principal at St. Gabriel.
I see education as my true vocation. Spending my day teaching, learning, and leading is what God calls me to do. It is my privilege to be able to give back to the Catholic Education system my parents struggled to make a part of my life. I am honored to be at St. Michael and share this position of principal with Mr. Goddard. Mr. Goddard and I believe that children are the reason we are at school each day, and we desire to continue the student-centered approach that is at both schools now.
We know that over the course of the next few months several questions will be asked and answers to longstanding questions will be given. Please feel free to contact either or both of us with your questions, comments, and concerns. Mr. Goddard may be reached at mgoddard@indyarchangel.org and/or Miss Watson may be reached at swatson@stgabrielindyschool.org. We look forward to seeing those we know and meeting those we do not know at the open house on April 15, 2010, from 5:30 PM-7:00 PM. The staff for the coming year will be present at this open house, too.
Sincerely,
Mr. Matthew Goddard Miss Sarah J. Watson
