The Catholic School Leaders Podcast
Leadership in a Catholic school can be a challenging vocation. Whether you are in a current leadership role at your school or are aspiring to be a future leader, this podcast will help you walk with other exceptional leaders from all over the country to grow Catholic education for the next generation.
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Six Brands Every Catholic School Leader Should Study
<p>Six Brands Every Catholic School Leader Should Study</p><p><br>Host: John Mihalyo </p><p><br>Every day, families walk through your doors already trained by six companies to expect something incredible, and they don't even realize it.</p><p>In this episode, John looks at Apple, Amazon, Nike, Southwest, Disney, and Chick-fil-A, six brands that have earned a level of trust and loyalty most organizations only dream of, and asks the question every Catholic school leader should be asking: what would it look like if we did the same thing our way, rooted in our mission and o...
Stop Talking, Start Telling: A Storyteller's Case for Catholic Schools
<p>Host: John Mihalyo | Guest: Sloane Heffernan, Founder, Storymore</p><p>Your school has an incredible story happening inside its four walls every single day. So why does almost nobody outside those walls know about any of it?</p><p>Sloane Heffernan spent the majority of her career in broadcast news at NBC affiliates in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina before the weight of the stories she was covering started eating away at her. She left the newsroom and founded Storymore, where she now helps organizations, including Catholic schools across the country, find and share their stories through video and...
How to Build a School That Goes All In on Catholic Culture
<p>Host: John Mihalyo | Guest: Deacon Dave Kerski, Former Catholic School Principal, Diocese of Raleigh</p><p><br>What does it actually mean to be a Catholic school — not just in name, but in everything you do, every single day?</p><p><br>Deacon Dave Kerski knows the difference. He spent ten years turning around a Catholic school in New Bern, North Carolina that was on the brink of closing. He earned his master's from Notre Dame's ACE program, served as a deacon, and built the kind of school culture that students, families, and teachers genuinely wanted to be a pa...
The Move from Public School to Catholic School: What Nobody Tells You Before You Start
<p>Host: John Mihalyo | Guest: Tom Conroy, Principal, Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School, Verona, NJ</p><p><br>Tom Conroy spent over 20 years as a public school principal before stepping into Catholic school leadership at Our Lady of the Lake in Verona, New Jersey. He will be the first to tell you that nothing fully prepared him for what he walked into — and that it has been the best chapter of his career.</p><p><br>In this episode, Tom and John get honest about what that transition really looks like. The surprises, the myths, and the mindset sh...
Rest, Reflect, and Get Ready: A Summer Game Plan for Catholic School Leaders
<p>Host: John Mihalyo | ~25 min</p><p><br>You made it through another school year — and that is worth celebrating. Whether this year felt like a championship season or survival mode, you showed up every single day for your students, your families, and your mission. That matters.</p><p>In this episode, John takes a few minutes to celebrate what you accomplished, have an honest conversation about where your enrollment stands heading into summer, and send you off with five practical action items to make sure the next few months are intentional — not accidental.</p><p>Because here's the thing — summer i...
Dream Bigger: How One Small Catholic School Turned Everything Around
<p>Host: John Mihalyo <br>Guest: Tara Nelson, Advancement & Enrollment Director, Parkersburg Catholic Schools </p><p>The Catholic School Leaders Podcast Episode Overview</p><p>Three years ago, Parkersburg Catholic Schools was facing declining enrollment, financial uncertainty, and rumors in the community that the school might not survive. Today, they are raising $500,000 for a campus consolidation project backed by a 3-to-1 diocesan match of $1.5 million and they are ahead of schedule.</p><p>In this episode, John sits down with Tara Nelson, the advancement and enrollment director who has been at the center of this transformation, to talk about how...
Catholic School Leadership After NCEA: A Framework for Following Through
<p><br>Host: John Mihalyo The Catholic School Leaders Podcast<br><br></p><p>Episode Overview<br><br></p><p>You left the NCEA fired up. Notebooks full of ideas. Texts to your team. Sessions you can't stop thinking about. And then Monday happened.</p><p><br>In this episode, John shares a simple four-step framework for making sure the energy and ideas from a great conference actually make it off the shelf and into your school.</p><p><br>Key Takeaways</p><p><br>1. Capture your top three takeaways. Not 10, not 15 — three. The ones that are actually going to mo...
Lessons Catholic School Leaders Can Learn From a Hollywood Movie Set
<p>What does a Hollywood film set have to do with leading a Catholic school? More than you'd think.</p><p>In this episode, John Mihalyo takes us back to 2010 — when he was a Catholic school principal in Weirton, West Virginia, and received a call that still stands out as one of the most unexpected of his career. Paramount Pictures was filming JJ Abrams' Super 8 in town, and they wanted local principals as extras. John said yes — and what happened over the next several weeks became one of the richest leadership experiences of his life.</p><p>From preparation to buzz...
Kenny Loggins, Yacht Rock, and Catholic School Leadership
<p>Host: John Mihalyo</p><p>The Catholic School Leaders Podcast</p><p><br></p><p>Episode Overview</p><p><br></p><p>What does Kenny Loggins have to do with Catholic schools?</p><p><br></p><p>More than you might think.</p><p><br></p><p>In this episode, John uses the example of Kenny Loggins—known for songs like Footloose and Danger Zone—to explore how institutions sometimes forget the people who helped build them.</p><p><br></p><p>Catholic schools can fall into the same trap, losing touch with former parents, volunteers, board members, and dono...
Pastor-Principal Partnerships: One Mission, One Team
<p>Episode Title: Pastor + Principal Partnerships: One Mission, One Team<br>Host: John Mihalyo<br>Guests: Julie Capirchio (Principal) + Fr. Gregory Stowe (Pastor)</p><p><br>Summary</p><p>Julie and Fr. Stowe share what a healthy pastor–principal partnership really looks like: shared mission, constant communication, honest disagreement behind closed doors, and a united front in public. They explain how parish and school can function as one community, why “no surprises” matters, and how trust is built over time—especially through hard seasons.</p><p><br>Key Takeaways</p>One campus, one mission: parish + school thrive when they act as one b...
