New principal at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Jean Synowicki

OGDEN — Jean Synowicki, the new principal of St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Ogden, has been in the educational field for 33 years, the last 20 at St. John the Baptist Middle School in Draper.

Synowicki was raised in Nebraska, where she earned an undergraduate degree in secondary mathematics from the University of Nebraska, Omaha and a master’s in curriculum and instruction from Doane College. She also has a Catholic Leadership Certificate from Creighton University.

She began her career teaching math at her alma mater, Millard South High School in Omaha, Neb.

She came by her vocation honestly; her father is a retired chemistry teacher and her mother was a stay-at-home mom who went back to college and became an accountant after her youngest child was in school fulltime.

“I’ve always loved math,” Synowicki said, “and so I went into education to become a math teacher because it was just my passion, and I love that ‘aha!’ moment ... especially for math, because math is hard for lots of kids. … I’ve taught everything from kids who struggle to calculus.”

Synowicki and her family moved to Utah in 2003 because of her husband’s job. Although she attended public school, her own two children, who are now adults, had Catholic school education through 12th grade, starting with a school in Omaha, then at St. John the Baptist and on to Juan Diego Catholic High School.

“It was just really important to my husband and me to have our children go to Catholic education,” she said. “You can’t replace the value of a faith-filled education, I don’t think. … The community that you build when you’re in a Catholic school, the morals and values that are taught and … the teachers are examples of, you just can’t replace that.”

Shortly after moving to Utah she was offered a position to teach seventh- and eighth-grade math at St. John’s, where she taught fulltime for 10 years, then spent the last 10 year as the assistant principal while also teaching a few classes.

Her goal was to become a principal, so when the opportunity opened at St. Joseph’s, “I was super excited about it,” she said, “and this community is amazing. I have felt very welcomed since the day I walked in. The staff is incredibly dedicated.”

The switch to elementary school has been a challenge because it’s new to teach young children, she said. “My whole career, 33 years, has been 11-year-olds to 18-year-olds, and now all of a sudden I have 5-year-olds and 3-year-olds. That’s different. … Their thought process is different, but they’re fun. They’re adorable.”

In addition to a new principal this year, St. Joseph Elementary will see the start of a construction project that will add a full-sized gymnasium, larger kitchen and a couple of classrooms. Nancy Essary, the former principal, is overseeing this project, “which is nice, that I don’t have to do that on top of being a principal,” Synowicki said.