Laurie Jacobs is the new St. Olaf School principal

Friday, Jul. 03, 2015

BOUNTIFUL — Laurie Jacobs has been appointed the principal at Saint Olaf School and will start on July 1. 

Jacobs, who began teaching kindergarten at St. Olaf School in 2006 and then taught second grade for five years, aspired to the position by stepping in as the assistant principal when needed.

Jacobs knows many of the St. Olaf families, all of the faculty and staff, and “she is well respected by them and they see her as a leader in the school,” said Holy Cross Sister Catherine Kamphaus, Utah Catholic Schools superintendent. 

In addition to taking part in the accreditation leadership team, Jacobs has taken leadership in other areas at the school, Sr. Cathy said. “Laurie is eager to move to another level of education where faculty and parents, will be more of a focus. Laurie will always put students first because she is a professional educator and knows the priorities. I look forward to working with her in her new role as principal.”

When Jacobs started at the school, two of her three children were students there and she was already a part of the St. Olaf community. 

“I have lived through the growing pains of the school struggling to survive in a predominantly non-Catholic environment. I desire now to create a stronger partnership between the school and the parish community,” she said. 

Jacobs’ vision for St. Olaf is to work toward the reality that Catholic education is financially accessible to all students. She would like the school to demonstrate a strong Catholic identity while remaining a front runner in the academic race, she said. She also would like to offer spiritual growth in all academic endeavors, have Catholic education surpass the public school experience and have Catholic educators teach by example and follow the words, “What would Jesus do?” 

Teaching was not Jacobs’ initial vocation while studying in college, but she quickly fell in love with the profession. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison and transferred to the University of Central Florida, where she received a Bachelor of Science degree in speech and language pathology with minors in education and audiology.

“It must have been the Holy Spirit or my calling to become a teacher,” Jacobs said. 

After her children entered pre-school, she was offered a part-time teaching position for 4-year-olds, and “I fell in love with the classroom experience rather than teaching one-on-one as I had been doing as a speech pathologist; I felt I could touch many more lives working in the classroom,” she said. 

When Jacobs’ children attended a Montessori school, she was offered a position there teaching early elementary-age children, and became Montessori certified. When her husband was transferred to Utah four years later, she thought she would be a stay-at-home mom, but a teacher’s aide position in kindergarten was open and she joined the St. Olaf staff. The next year she started teaching kindergarten. 

“I have loved every minute of teaching here, working with the staff and working closely with the parish,” Jacobs said. “St. Olaf has turned out many quality students: valedictorians, salutatorians, Sterling Scholars and students on Dean’s lists. The community here is a family, and it really does take a village to raise these kids and we take great pride in that.” 

Jacobs has grown in her faith since she has been at St. Olaf School, she said. As the second-grade teacher, she prepared students for First Reconciliation and First Eucharist, which, along with faith formation offered by the school, has increased her faith “answering all the questions asked by innocent little second-graders,” she said. “A percentage of second-graders are not Catholic and it is a big year for conversion. It’s a tradition at St. Olaf to have a children’s Mass every Friday and parents are invited; they realize the importance of religion to a Catholic, and the students teach their parents.”