This week’s episode of Catholic School Matters, a podcast about the future of Catholic education, featured Abigail Akano, principal of Sacred Heart School. Dr. Tim Uhl, the superintendent of Montana Catholic Schools, interviewed Abigail about Sacred Heart and the Partnership network.

On the episode, Abigail described her experiences as SHS principal before and after the Partnership:

“I always liken it to the difference between survival mode and thriving. Pre-Partnership, it was all about what we need to do to stay afloat: how do we make sure we keep the doors open and our students in and that we have teachers and books and chalk… in Partnership mode, it became all about what can we reach for.”

She also shared what she loves about being part of the network community:

“Just having a community is great… because principals in the past had so much to do, you didn’t exactly have time to reach out to colleagues or check on what was going on with other schools. Now, if I have a question, I have five other principals I can reach out to really quickly. I know my teachers are in contact with their grade level cohorts at other schools. Same with the deans. We bring them together often enough that this relationship is solidified.”

Check out the full episode – released on 3/12/19 – on iTunes!