Zook named Our Lady of Lourdes principal

A familiar face in Great Falls' parochial schools has been named the new principal of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School.

Sarah Zook, who spent nine years teaching and being an assistant principal at Central Catholic High School, will take over as principal of the K-8 school this year. A few of her children have attended Our Lady of Lourdes.

"I really like the direction the school is going in terms of faith and academics," Zook said.

She replaces Sherri Schmitz, who has retired.

Zook holds her bachelor's degree in education from Montana State University-Billings with minors in business and math. She has her master's degree in educational leadership from MSU in Bozeman. After graduating from MSU-Billings in 1998, she went to work for Idaho Falls High School for three years, spent three years at Simms High School and then spent nine years at Central Catholic High School. For six of those years she taught a combination of business, Spanish and math classes and then spent three years as the assistant principal.

For the last three years, Zook has worked as a professional development coach for the Regional Educational Services Area directed by the Montana Office of Public Instruction. She's traveled across eastern Montana and even up to Alaska training teachers on implementing curriculum, utilizing data, improving teaching practices and more.

With most of her teaching experience spent at the high school level, Zook said she enjoyed spending a lot of her time with RESA working in elementary schools, which she thinks has prepared her well for the job at Our Lady of Lourdes.

Zook, 40, recently received a rural educator development award from the National Curriculum Institute. In 2008, she was named economics teacher of the year by the Montana Council on Economic Education.

She and her husband, Shawn, have six children.