St. Mary’s High School Principal Matthew Collins. (File photo)
WESTFIELD – St. Mary’s High School Principal Matthew Collins is enthusiastic about the new school board and the future of the Catholic high school.
When the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield announced over the summer that the school was now a Diocesan school – its only Diocesan high school now that Pope Francis High School is a private Catholic school – a new board was part of the plan.
Collins worked with Springfield Diocese Schools Superintendent Daniel Baillargeon to create the board, which is comprised of eight members, plus Collins and Baillargeon.
The board met last week for the first time and is already moving forward on several goals, including increasing enrollment and creating subcommittees.
Collins took over as principal amidst turbulent times for the school, which nearly closed its doors. Collins says those days are in the past.
“There is no talk from the Diocese, or within St. Mary’s Parish, of St. Mary’s High School closing,” he said. “We are here, and the Diocese committed to us being its only Diocesan high school.”
Collins said he is excited to be working on filling the classrooms and securing a vibrant future for the school, which has been in existence more than 100 years.
“We researched who we wanted on the board — we have a very good group of people with different experience,” said Collins. “Many of them are alums or have had students here in the past. They have skill sets that will help STM move into the future.”
St. Mary’s High School Board members:
Carol Lucardi
Carol Lucardi is a 1987 graduate of the University of Massachusetts with a degree in English and Education, with certification as a high school English teacher. Since 2012, Lucardi has been working as the director of Traditional and Digital Media at Marketing Doctor, a full-service advertising agency, located in Northampton. Prior to joining Marketing Doctor, she worked as an account executive at both WWLP and WGGB. She also worked part-time at the Russell Public Library as the Children’s Librarian. Lucardi currently has two children enrolled at St. Mary’s schools, her son will graduate in 2020, and her daughter is in 4th grade. Lucardi’s oldest son graduated in 2017 from St. Mary’s and is currently a junior at Catholic University in Washington, D.C.
Both Lucardi and her husband, Bill, have volunteered extensively at St. Mary’s at both the elementary and high schools. Over the past few years, Lucardi has volunteered her time to create marketing strategies for St. Mary’s, developed social media campaigns, designed print ads and full scale billboards, written and coordinated the production of TV and radio commercials. Lucardi and her family are enrolled as parishioners at Holy Family Parish in Russell, where Lucardi has served on the Parish Council, and currently volunteers on various committees.
PETER MILLER
Peter Miller
Peter Miller’s entire 45-year professional life has been in areas of enrollment management. He has worked in a variety of institutions-small, medium-sized, and large; private Catholic colleges and private, non-denominational; urban and rural – colleges that were pure liberal arts schools and some whose academic focus was professionally oriented. Each institution was tuition-dependent which made achieving enrollment objectives a priority. As the chief admissions officer at each school, Miller was responsible for developing and executing a plan to optimize enrollment. Such plans required developing staff, working collaboratively with the college’s administrative teams, faculty, school counselors, current students, alumni, trustees, vendors and others who would influence student enrollment. Miller believes it is imperative that St. Mary’s continues to be a vibrant presence in the community. Graduates of a faith-based, values-centered secondary school are needed to add to the quality of life in Westfield and beyond.
Miller is a parishioner of St. Mary’s where he serves as a lector, Eucharistic Minister, CCD teacher, volunteer with the St. Vincent DePaul Society and active with the Men of St. Joseph. Miller was also awarded the Alumnus of the year in 2012 – he is a graduate of the class of 1969.
FR. DAN PACHOLEC
Fr. Dan Pacholec
Fr. Dan Pacholec is currently the Pastor of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament in Westfield. He is a native of Holyoke and a graduate of Mater Dolorosa School and Holyoke Catholic High School. Pacholec received a B.A. from Amherst College, and A.A. in Philosophy from the former St. Hyacinth College and Seminary in Granby, and an M.Div from Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston. After college but prior to entering the seminary, Pacholec worked for many years in management, human resources, and executive training and development for the former Albert Steiger Company.
Pacholec was ordained a priest in 1996. His assignments include Holy Cross in Springfield, St. Michael’s Parish in East Longmeadow and Vocation Director for the Diocese of Springfield. He has served on the Diocesan Presbyteral Council, Clergy Commission and Building (Facilities and Grounds) Commission. Pacholec oversaw the design and building of a new church for his parish in 2009.
SUZANNE MALLOY
Suzanne Malloy
Suzanne Malloy has resided in Westfield for the past 20 years. She is a parishioner at St. Mary’s, and her son is a 2012 graduate. Malloy believes that he is the man he is today thanks to St. Mary’s High School. Many of her son’s teachers are still Malloy’s friends. Because of St. Mary’s, her son became Catholic as the Easter Vigil in 2011 along with two of his classmates. Malloy feels that it was a wonderful experience which brought her back to the church.
Malloy is a pediatric nurse practitioner with Trinity Health of New England. She enjoys working with children and has done so since 1999.
WALTER BREAU
Dr. Walter Breau
Dr. Walter Breau was born and raised in Westfield, and was fortunate to have been taught by many of the Sisters of St. Joseph who worked at St. Mary’s Elementary and High School, grades 1-12, graduating in 1977. Breau has been married for 32 years, has four children, and has resided in Vernon, VT for almost 30 years.
Breau joined the College of Our Lady of the Elms in 1994 as a Biology faculty member. He was the chair for the Division of Natural Science, Mathematics, and Technology from 2000-2006, and has served as the vice president of Academic Affairs since July 2006.
Breau earned a B.S. degree in 1982 and a M.S. degree in 1984, from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in Animal Science and received a doctorate in physiology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado in 1989.
THOMAS TRANT
Tom Trant
Thomas K. Trant is a graduate of St Mary’s High School, Class of 1969 and Western New England College, Class of 1974. He has worked 45 years for public accounting and manufacturing companies in senior financial positions including controller, treasurer, VP and CFO. Currently, he is the president and owner of SISCO. Married to Barbara (Van Wart) for 45 years, they have three children – Christopher and his wife Jill, Jeffrey and his wife Rachel and Katie and her husband Jeffrey. They have three grandchildren – Madison, Mackenzie and Emily.
Trant has volunteered in the community for Youth Sports in the CYO Basketball program, Pioneer Valley Youth Soccer League, Little League, Babe Ruth Baseball, the YMCA and the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield as a coach and umpire/referee.
He has served on the local boards of the Westfield State College Foundation, Little League, Babe Ruth Baseball, the Dan Trant Scholarship Foundation and Blandford Country Club and currently serves on the Shurtleff Children’s Fund, Inc. He is a member of St Mary’s Parish currently serving as a Eucharistic Minister. He has previously served on the Finance Board, School Board and was named a Distinguished STM High School Alumni of the Year in 2013.
KATHLEEN ANGCO-VIEWEG
Kathleen Angco-Viewig
Kathleen Angco-Vieweg is an alum of both St. Mary’s Elementary School (1983) and St. Mary’s High School (Class of 1987); a long-standing Parishioner of St Mary’s Parish; St. Mary’s Parish School Board and St. Mary’s Pastoral Council Member. Angco-Vieweg also serves as a Eucharistic Minister and is a member of the Baystate Noble Patient & Family Advocacy Council.
Angco-Vieweg MSW/LCSW, Ph.D. [ABD] has been practicing Medical Social Work for over 33-plus years. During her social work career, she has been the assistant vice-president of Human Services for Episcopal Health Services; Chicopee Public School adjustment counselor/school social worker; and director of Social Services for several long-term care nursing centers. She has also been the chair of the Department of Sociology at American International College, where she taught higher education for 11 years in the area of sociology and social work; and has been a member of the adjunct faculty at Westfield State University for the Schools of Social Work and Psychology undergraduate and graduate programs for the last 19-plus years.
Angco-Vieweg is married with five children and three grandchildren; the youngest child is enrolled in 7th grade at St. Mary’s Elementary School. At present, she operates her own social work services business, Collaborative Care Consultants, and is grateful to be living a vocation of service instead of working a job.
MARY DEYO
Mary Deyo
Mary Deyo is a speech language pathologist and assistant professor in the Communication Sciences and Disorders department at Elms College. Deyo is an alumni of St. Stanislaus Kostka School in Adams, as well as UMASS, Amherst. She is currently enrolled in the clinical doctorate in speech language pathology program at Northwestern University; her expected date of graduation is March 2021. Deyo serves as the faculty co-advisor to the Elms College chapter of the National Student Speech Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA) and recently took on the role of chaperone for a mission trip, through Campus Ministry. Deyo is a resident of Westfield, and her children both attended St. Mary’s Parish School for preschool. She believes strongly in the mission of Catholic education, and the positive impact it has on the community.
