Reflections Magazine Issue #79 - Fall 2013 | Page 20

Feature Article

OPPORTUNITY
Mission Accomplished Series
This series of articles highlights individual examples
of the Siena Heights brand, “Opportunity U,” and
how the university’s mission is transforming the lives
of our students as well as the world around us.

Full “STEAM” Ahead
K
Katie Guilbault
Decker ’89 Wins
Big as Principal
in Las Vegas

20 | Reflections Fall ’13

atie Guilbault Decker ’89
has made learning fun again for students, teachers and parents at the Walter
Bracken STEAM Academy in urban
Las Vegas. As the recipient of the 2013
Magnet Schools of America Principal of
the Year Award, Decker has transformed
an underperforming, underprivileged
school into one of the best in the state
of Nevada.
But it wasn’t easy.

“It was a mess,” said Decker, who was
assigned as its principal in 2001. “(Bracken) was one of the scariest schools in
the district. Substitute (teachers) didn’t
like to come here because SWAT used to
practice here.”
Decker, who spent the previous 11
years as a teacher and an assistant principal in the Las Vegas area, saw an opportunity to improve the failing school.
But not many shared her vision.
“It was definitely a challenge,” Decker
said of the early resistance she encountered from teachers and parents.