New principal at St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus

By David Cederstrom, Chronicle Staff Writer

“I already love it here,” Patricia Balmer, the new principal at the St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus Regional Catholic School in Glens Falls, tells The Chronicle.

“Many of the people that I’ve met have been very welcoming. It seems like a really warm, inviting community. I’m just blessed to be a part of it.”

Mrs. Balmer said she’s from Latham.

“I’ve taught and have been a principal in many different avenues,” Mrs. Balmer said, including being principal at Hebrew Academy (although she notes that she’s not Jewish) and at St. Augustine School.

Over the last year she said she worked for the diocese as a new teacher mentor and did an interim principal position at St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam.

At St. Mary’s-St. Alphonsus, “there was an opening, and I applied for it and interviewed for it and I was the luckiest candidate,” Mrs. Balmer said.

She said, “My primary plan and goal is to assure that we’re fulfilling our mission, to be a joyful educational experience for our children, to create powerful minds, prayerful hearts, and helping hands in all of our students and faculty. I’m just going to work really hard to make sure that that mission comes true.”

“I believe that every child can learn, and it’s up to us to spark that excitement for learning in each and every child.”

Outside of school “we enjoy the Adirondacks quite a bit.”

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