To principal, lower grade level means higher impact Kowit says her time at St. Leo the Great has been a joy BY DAN NEWMAN Staff Writer Joanne Kowit MIDDLETOWN — For 20 years, Joanne Kowit was an administrator at Red Bank Catholic High School and enjoyed her job. But at some point along the way she started to think about her time at a previous stop, a four-year teaching stint at St. Mary’s Academy in Lakewood. “I saw some changes in the last 10 years in education, and a lot of it was happening at the elementary level,” Kowit said. “I thought about it, and I really wanted to be in on that movement. I had experience at that level from many years back, and so I decided I wanted to be there again.” And so it is that Kowit has been at St. Leo the Great School since September as its principal, a transition she said it has been smooth. “At this level, when the kids are so young, its nice to have a big impact on their lives,” Kowit said. “When the kids are older, they are already developed in so many ways. Down here, it’s about my having each child learn as much as they can and keeping things as safe as possible for them. That’s not to say that it hasn’t been challenging so far, because it has, but I have been fortunate because I have had so much help from the teachers here. They really have been wonderful.” The school, which has about 625 students ranging in age from 3 years old to eighth grade, is a place where Kowit wants to emulate some of her mentors, including one in particular who had a big impact on her while she was at St. Mary’s. “I had a principal in Lakewood and you could just see that she really did love the kids she had in the school,” Kowit recounted. “That really influenced me and I always said to myself that if I ever got to be in a position like that, I would do my best to show just as much care for the kids in my school, and now I have that chance.” Kowit has very definite goals for each class level of students. For the younger ones, she wants to see them grow developmentally. The older ones, she hopes to help as much as possible to prepare them for when they get to high school. “That’s not to say that I’m not concerned about the kids in the middle grades,” Kowit said. “But the youngest ones and the oldest ones have so much at stake, and so I want to make sure that they are taken care of very well.” One of the biggest differences for Kowit on a daily basis comes from the smallest group of people. “I’m so used to being on eye level with the high school kids at RBC, and so it’s been a bit of an adjustment to look so far down just to talk to our younger students here. It’s a bit weird actually,” Kowit said. “I have kids hugging me so much and that was an adjustment. I don’t recall too many times when a high schooler ever hugged me.” Besides her hugs, Kowit has become popular for having what are commonly referred to as NUT days, NUT standing for “No Uniforms Today.” Students are handed NUT cards, about the size of an index card, when they perform good deeds such as helping a teacher after class or doing well scholastically. Kowit said that teachers try to remind kids when these special days are so they know when it’s coming. Already this year, there has been one NUT day and Kowit was proud to say that each of the school’s students was exempt from having to wear their uniforms on that day. “I think the majority of our kids and parents don’t have an issue with the uniform because there’s really nothing to think about, fashionwise, on a daily basis,” Kowit said. “But once in a while, it’s nice to just loosen up a bit.” Overall, Kowit said she really enjoyed her time in Red Bank, but this was an opportunity she wanted to seize, and she’s glad she did.” “When you’re at the same place for 20 years, yes, things do become familiar,” Kowit said. “But I thought I could have more of an impact on the lives of children if I dropped down to the elementary level, and that is my main goal — to prepare these kids and hopefully watch them succeed at the next level in their lives.”