For Elaine Beam, being a Catholic educator was not only about lessons, grades, or school administration. It was about drawing out a child’s God-given curiosity and helping students discover joy in learning and faith. After 17 years as principal of St. Michael School in Brattleboro, Beam retired in July, having shaped the school around those values.

Those values are evidenced in St. Michael’s recovery and growth: under Beam’s leadership, the school renewed its accreditation, paid off its debts, and built up a robust endowment. Enrollment grew, and the high school reopened. Recently, Beam spearheaded the effort to have St. Michael High School become a Chesterton Schools Network school – a rigorous process to meet quality standards for a classical curriculum that blends liberal arts with Christian virtues. “People witnessed the Catholic identity of the school,” she said.

Beam fostered this Catholic identity early in her tenure. When she started as principal, her office was somewhat isolated from the rest of the administrative office. She quickly moved her office to a more central location and opened a chapel in her old office space. Sometimes, when students came to her for a behavioral issue, she would ask if they needed a few minutes in the chapel first. “The conversations went very different after that,” she said.

“I think teaching is pulling out students’ curiosity that is natural and God-given,” she said. “If you meet them in that curious spot, you can teach them anything.” In addition to her spiritual leadership and administrative duties as principal, Beam stepped into the classroom to teach a variety of subjects including math and religion as needed.

Beam did not begin her career in the classroom. Born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, and raised in Vermont, she first earned an associate’s degree in fashion merchandising and business from Champlain College. “I always was interested in education and just didn’t have a path to four years of college at the time,” she said.

In her 30s, while working in marketing and raising two daughters with her husband, Norman, Beam spent vacation time volunteering in schools. She taught science lessons, read with students, and eventually realized, “that’s where my joy is,” she said. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English literature and an elementary education certificate from Norwich University’s adult degree program.

She taught fourth grade at Ackworth School in New Hampshire where she became lead teacher. She later taught at Grafton Elementary School and earned her principal endorsement and a master’s degree from Castleton State College. She served for 12 years as principal of Grafton Elementary School.

After the principal at St. Micheal School left, the then-paster came to Beam for advice while searching for a full-time replacement. He encouraged her to apply. With her children finished with college, “I was in a place to do the job,” she said. “[Working in Catholic education] was something I had been praying about and discerning for quite a while.”

The then-Catholic school superintendent for the Diocese of Burlington interviewed Beam on a cold call on a chilly March day. “I had just come into the house and still had my coat on,” Beam recalled. Without time to prepare, she didn’t think she would get the job. Soon after, she was invited for an in-person interview.

She began in the summer of 2009 and quickly understood what leading a Catholic school would require. “It demanded a level of faith because the school was nearly ready to be closed,” she said. “I needed to be the person who saw the joy of Catholic education and why it’s different.”

Early in her tenure, Beam led St. Michael’s through its reaccreditation process, working with parents and staff to meet the school’s goals. “I didn’t do it, the community did,” she said. “I did trust and pray a lot.”

Beam’s faith was pivotal in navigating challenges throughout her career. She remembered that when the high school first opened, they did not have a math teacher. “I prayed novenas, but I couldn’t find someone,” she said. Then she got an email from a qualified applicant named Grace. “How appropriate. God sent me Grace!” she said.

For her part, Beam enjoyed fostering students’ curiosity through a variety of outlets. For example, she fondly recalled using spaghetti and gumdrops in geometry class to build the tallest structure; she recruited her husband to build a catapult for her third-grade math class to test as part of a mediaeval faire. She witnessed how comfortable children are in the sacraments and living their faith. “It’s been a gift,” she said.

Lauren Pelis is the chair of the St. Michael School Board and herself attended St. Michael’s from fifth to eighth grade. Now a parent of a third grader, she is part of the parent/teacher group.

“For me, Mrs. Beam was always easy to approach and talk to, whether it was for school board things or just life and being a parent at the school,” Pelis said. “I spent more time in the principal’s office as a parent than I ever had a student,” she joked. “She shaped so many things. She fought hard and brought St. Michael’s back.”

She recalled Beam’s support for creative fundraising ideas. One year, Pelis asked Beam if she would be willing to be duct taped to the wall if the school met its goal to raise $20,000. “She said ok!” Pelis said. “I thought she was a little too quick with that ‘ok,’ and I don’t think she thought we’d make the goal. Well, we exceeded that goal, and she got taped to the wall!”

Pelis’ daughter, Avery, loves school and learning new things. “[Mrs. Beam] is very nice and fun,” said the eight-year-old. “She would chit chat with people, even when they weren’t in trouble. And she would always smile at you!”

When she became a principal, Beam received valuable advice from a veteran principal and mentor: “I wasn’t giving up teaching. My new students were teachers and staff members. It was my role to be there as their teacher,” Beam said. One of her favorite experiences in her 17-year tenure was becoming godmother to a non-Catholic teacher when he came into the Church.

Father Henry Furman, pastor of St. Michael Parish, saw that joy and faith in Beam’s leadership. He noted that Mrs. Beam had a quote from Pope Pius XII appended to the bottom of her emails: “The soul of education is the education of the soul.”

“This very much summed up Mrs. Beam’s approach,” Father Furman said. “Education of the person ultimately means knowing the person of Jesus Christ. Catholic identity in education is thus to be leaven, not frosting.”

In her retirement, Beam plans to volunteer at her parish (St. Micheal’s), work in her garden at her home in Westminster, and spend time with her family, including her four grandchildren.

“I’m starting to realize that I really lived at school,” she said. However, she will continue to provide mentorship and advisement during the transition process. “I might even substitute teach,” she said with a laugh.