School is back in session and long, summer days will soon be crisp, fall afternoons. As students get settled in their new classrooms, we sat down with Dr. Kemmery Hill, the new Superintendent of Catholic Schools, and asked her a few questions. With fresh energy and a vision for the year ahead, she’s ready to lead our schools to grow in relationship with Jesus Christ while receiving excellent academic formation. Make sure to read until the end to learn about her scuba-diving adventures! Q: Tell us a bit about yourself.
A: I’m actually a product of this archdiocese. I went to Sacred Heart of Jesus School in Boulder for K-8, and then I came to the profession naturally after receiving my teaching degree. I student-taught in the Denver Public Schools, and it was a very beautiful experience. Yet, I couldn’t imagine not being able to pray with my students who were going through tough life situations, so I knew I had to go back to Catholic education.
I started teaching at St. John the Baptist School, where I taught for seven years. Later, I took on the role of principal, where I was for 10 years. During the fall of last year, Elias Moo, the former superintendent, approached me and asked if I wanted to be an associate superintendent for the northern Catholic Schools, because I was living in Longmont. So, I did that part-time on top of my principal role, and here’s where the Lord led me.
Q: What are you most excited about in your new role?
A: I'm excited about being able to work with our schools from a higher perspective. I look at being the principal as being the teacher of teachers, and now it's leading on a different level. It’s leading our principals.
I’m excited to continue working on our path of academic renewal and bringing our students into a daily encounter with Jesus Christ. I love that I'm able to make Catholic education more accessible to all the different parts of our Colorado community.
Q: Do you have any hobbies or passions you’d like to share? A: My husband and I are avid scuba divers. We love to dive, so when we get to travel, we usually travel to scuba. We've been to so many incredible places to dive. I would say probably one of the most memorable was when we went to Chile to dive in the Pacific Ocean, and we were left by our dive group. I feel like that's our most memorable dive because you hear about these things where scuba divers get left, and then people just never come back to pick them up. Luckily, our boat did come back. I would say our most memorable location would be South Africa. There are so many beautiful reefs around the world, and they're all so different, but I would say South Africa was probably our favorite.
Comments