A New Position For A Familiar Face

By Ruth Ann Ruiz

The Post Newspaper Features Editor

She thought she wanted to own a daycare center, that was until she raised five kids of her own. But she knew she wanted to work with children, even though most of her working years were devoted to the family catering business.

“I wore a big apron and walked around the beautiful events room at Moody Gardens with sugar packets. I was only five and everyone who I offered a packet to accepted even if they didn’t need more sweetener. They couldn’t say no,” Cheryl Aucoin shared. 

Her parents owned a catering business in Galveston with the family home in Texas City. Time came when her mother was ready to retire, and Cheryl just wasn’t willing to step in to keep the business going. “I think she was a little disappointed,” said Aucoin. 

She had to go after her heart’s desire, which was working with children, but she wasn’t sure what she would do until a friend suggested she become a teacher. 

Completing her undergraduate degree at University of Houston-Clear Lake in teaching was the first step. But getting a teaching job wasn’t easy. She spent two years working as a substitute teacher. 

Then she was hired to serve as the technology teacher and afterschool director at Lutheran South School in Houston. Within a few short years she was asked to move into a fourth-grade classroom as a teacher.

“When they told me I would be teaching Texas history, I panicked because I really didn’t like history. Then I learned everything I could and found our history was rich and exciting. I passed my new passion for Texas history onto my students,” said Aucoin. 

She wasn’t a classroom teacher for very long before she was tapped to be an assistant principal. 

Though she was thrilled and honored, she just wasn’t ready to leave the classroom. She had grown to appreciate the value of building relationships with her students and their families, and she felt she would lose that connection if she became an administrator.  

Building relationships and a sense of family didn’t end when she became an administrator, it was extended to the entire campus.

Pushing the doorbell at a school is part of reality but rarely is the principal the one who holds the inner door open and greets me with a firm handshake and bright smile. Her enthusiasm is a bit contagious and being in her presence it is easy to sense why she was hired to lead the school.

Aucoin will be the new face on campus at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School in Texas City. In all honesty, her face isn’t new on the campus, but it is the first year she will serve as a as a certified staff member.

Going way back in history, at least in her history, Aucoin was baptized at St. Mary’s Catholic Church. She has been a parishioner her entire life. 

Aucoin’s five children all attended the school; she worked at the school library to help cover  tuition costs for her children and she herself was once as student at OLFCS. 

Building a sense of family and community is one of her goals as she steps into the role of principal. She has an ease with people; like an athletic coach, she knows how to direct traffic efficiently and respectfully. This enables her to quickly connect with people she meets and will be part of the skills she uses to create a community. 

Making sure the school continues to offer a top-notch education is part of her responsibility and a priority on her list. As the new principal, she has assigned teachers to teach the subjects in their areas of passion and strength.  “Students learn best from teachers who are excited about the subject they are teaching,” said Aucoin. 

To further enhance the students’ learning, Aucoin is planning to take morning prayers and pledge time to a new level with the addition of lively worship songs and some physical movement as a method of energizing and exciting the children before they begin their academic studies.  

Although academics are a priority, Aucoin understands her job has higher implications than just reading, writing and arithmetic. She works for more than just a paycheck and a boss on earth, she is working for a heavenly cause.

“We are working to develop not only scholars but also saints,” she said.