Students from St. Peter School on Capitol Hill waving silver and blue pom-poms greeted their surprised principal Karen Clay at St. Peter’s Church on Oct. 13. Clay, who was entering the church under the pretense of a different event, found out that she been named as the 2023-2024 Distinguished Principal of the Year for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Kelly Branaman, the archdiocese’s Secretary for Catholic Schools and Superintendent of Schools, praised Clay, saying, “We celebrate you today, not only for your leadership here at St. Peter, but also for your collegiality, mentorship of other principals, and leadership you demonstrate across the Archdiocese of Washington in committees and collaborative work for the good of all schools.”
Father Daniel Carson, the pastor at St. Peter’s Parish, also praised the school’s principal before leading students in prayer.
“In her kind and caring interactions with every student, in her enthusiasm and celebration of the achievements of students and staff, and in walking with students and families through their hard times, Ms. Clay demonstrates daily her love and commitment to the children and families of our school,” Father Carson said.
Students chanted “Principal Clay” as they exited the church. Clay, who has been an educator in the Archdiocese of Washington for 12 years, reacted to the well-kept secret.
“I am in shock. I’m overwhelmed. I’m elated. I am. All the things that you can imagine. I’m just so happy. Just so happy and grateful,” Clay said.
Before coming to St. Peter School at its principal in 2017, Clay earlier taught fourth grade and served as the assistant principal at Holy Trinity School in Georgetown, and served as the principal at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic School in Camp Springs, Maryland. She also has three years of pre-kindergarten to fourth grade classroom experience in a D.C. public school on Capitol Hill.
Clay has a master of education degree (summa cum laude) in administration & supervision from Marymount University in the Catholic School Leadership Program there; a bachelor of arts degree in communications and English from the University of Michigan; certification in elementary education (K-12) in the District of Columbia; catechist certification (K-adults) with the Archdiocese of Washington; and licensure in administration II (K-12) from the Maryland State Department of Education.
St. Peter’s principal said she believes that the community is what makes that school unique.
“We are a neighborhood school, and I don’t know that there are very many of us left, and everyone that comes to our school lives in the neighborhood. It’s a community. It’s a family. It’s all the kids know each other, the parents know each other. There’s just a lot of love that goes into the school, and that’s what makes it so special,” Clay said.
Working in Catholic education is important to Clay, who appreciates that she can bring her whole self to work.
“Nowhere else can we stand here on an altar and talk about Jesus, about God and impart that into our kids and be that for others, be that for our parents, for our students, for the other teachers, and just be a role model for what it means to be like Jesus,” Clay said.
Clay said authenticity is what makes a great principal.
“It’s just being, I do it from the love of what I do, it’s my vocation, right? As a Catholic educator, you’re not doing it for the money; you’re doing it for the love of the organization…For me, it’s just being who I am and living that out and being able to live it out because my faith is at the center of everything that I do,” Clay said. “If I can focus on that, there’s no greater vocation than to be able to be Jesus Christ for others in a school.”
