Wrangell’s new elementary school principal, Cathy Winn, already had a job down in Arkansas. But out of curiosity, she applied to the opening at Evergreen Elementary just weeks before she started her new role.
KSTK’s Colette Czarnecki sat down with the new principal to talk about her journey from Arkansas to Alaska and her vision for the school.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
I am from the great state of Arkansas. We call it the natural state. I spent a year in Brussels, Belgium as a K1 teacher right after college, and then I went right back to my hometown and actually retired from education in that area.
What brought you to Wrangell?
A friend of mine said, “Hey, why don’t you go to this website and check out all of the jobs that are available in Alaska?”
From there, it accelerated very quickly. Within seven days, I had been offered the job. I had found an apartment. I had already talked to the people about renting the apartment and they wanted to rent to me, and I had my ticket to fly to Wrangell.
I flew out of Arkansas, out of Little Rock on August the ninth, and got here to Wrangell on Sunday morning of August the 10th, and then August the 11th, I started work.
Did you feel rested?
No, I did not. We are three hours behind here. It was quite a transition.
Were you ever a principal before?
Yes, I was. I was a principal in the northwest Arkansas area. It was in a K-4 school, had a great experience, love the kids, and knew that I would be a good fit here.
How long were you a principal over there?
I was principal for two years.
What’s your role as a principal?
I feel like as a principal, it is to be a leader, I also feel that it is a principal’s job to be a role model to students and to staff. I have the motto of ‘listen’ and the letters in listen, if you rearrange them, are ‘silent.’ So I absolutely am listening, trying to be silent as much as I can, and trying to get feedback on where we need to help make this school better.
You are new. Do you have any ideas of that, where you need to make the school better?
I have offered staff their feedback and getting some ideas about how some things we can make run a little smoother. And the staff has been fantastic. They have great ideas.
Can you give a couple examples?
Minor things, like the pickup line.
One of my first questions was, “Why does K1 walk in the opposite end and everybody else comes in through the gym?”
And they’re like, ‘Well, we started that when we were in COVID.”
But we don’t really have to do that anymore, so we kind of ironed that out and made a little bit of changes.
As far as art and music and Lingít education, just kind of ironing out those things and making sure that we are meeting all of the needs of our students.
What are your goals?
Wrangell School District core values are: be respectful, be honest, act with integrity, be courageous, develop confidence and be kind. Our vision is to graduate students who are resilient, innovative and prepared for their future.
Outside of work, tell me who you are. What are your interests?
I’m still discovering things here in Wrangell. I’m seeing the rich history that’s here. I am a big reader and I have a blog. I am a mother of a son who lives in Arkansas, so I have a big extended family. I’m really known as Aunt Cathy.
What kind of books do you like to read?
Typically, I have a nonfiction book going, and I’m really into historical fiction.
What’s your blog called?
So my blog is called, “Well, that’s a deep subject.”
When I first started the blog, it was focused on my beliefs as a Christian, and talking about things that were jumping out at me, as far as lessons that I’d learned or things that I have read through Bible study, but I have kind of changed the direction a little bit to the bold step of faith that I’ve taken to move north to Alaska.
Is there anything else you would like to add to this interview?
I have felt so welcome here. So I feel like, again, I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
