RoxAnne Close to head Kearns-Saint Ann School

Friday, Jun. 26, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — RoxAnne Close has been appointed the principal of Kearns-Saint Ann School and will start the new position July 1; she served as vice-principal for one year.  

Close has taught at Kearns-Saint Ann for 27 years; it was natural to hire her as principal, said Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, Utah Catholic School superintendent. “She knows the students, parents and faculty well. Her learning curve will be shorter because she has been so involved over the last several years,” she said. “RoxAnne has served on many Catholic School committees, including professional development and curriculum review committees. She has earned the respect of parents, students and faculty and I think she is excited about the challenges of this new position.”  

Close began at Kearns-St. Ann School in 1989, teaching first grade for nine years; she then taught second grade for 18 years, “a position in which she has touched the lives of many Kearns-Saint Ann students,” said Father Michael Sciumbato, Saint Ann Parish pastor. “She loves our children, looks forward to renewing her relationships with the school’s parents, former students and building new bridges with the St. Ann community. She has prepared more than 400 students for First Reconciliation and the Sacrament of the Eucharist.”

Close is rooted in the Benedictine Rule, having two aunts who are Benedictine sisters and graduating cum laude from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minn., with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education. She also received a Master of Education degree from Westminster College in 2009. 

As principal, Close would like to celebrate the school’s diversity through “the cultural fair we started; we have students from five of the seven continents and 26 percent of the students are refugees,” she said. “Our school is on the historic register and 100 years old. I want to keep the charisms of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, who ran the school, and the Holy Cross Sisters, who ran the orphanage, going, as well as the Kearns family who started the orphanage.”

Close also wants to build stronger academics, a strong Catholic identity and to promote social justice so students can receive a Catholic school education, she said. “I have been here long enough that I am now teaching the children of the parents I taught,” she said. “I also hope to visit the younger classrooms to read to the students.”

Close was inspired to become a teacher by following in her aunts’ footsteps, she said. 

“I also have a love for children and a love for reading, and I thought I could work with children and promote reading,” she said. 

An aunt who was a Benedictine sister and one of the founders of Saint Benedict’s Hospital in Ogden influenced Close’s first trip to Salt Lake City; she worked in a summer program at Saint Patrick Parish and was mentored by Benedictine Sister Jeremia Januschka, who was then teaching at Judge Memorial Catholic High School.

Before moving to Utah, Close and her husband, John, served as Maryknoll lay missioners in Tanzania from 1980 to 1982. 

“Once you have been a missioner you can never not be one; it impacts your life in powerful ways,” she said. “The Tanzanian people helped me to fight for justice, peace and respect for the integrity of all people. This is a gift the students and parents of Kearns-St. Ann School have also taught me – it has helped me with our diverse population and their cultures.”

Each year, Close teaches the students at Kearns-St. Ann about Tanzania and its people, she said. “I worked in a pre-school in Tanzania as an administrator for 150 children and three teachers,” she said. “We taught in Swahili, grew a garden, got a lot of food and clothing from Catholic Relief Services and fed the students breakfast. We used a little chalkboard; with no paper we would go outside and write in the sand.”

Close has been involved in Catholic education her whole career, teaching at three Catholic schools before coming to Utah.

“I will miss teaching, but I think it’s time for me to step up into a leadership role,” she said.