Cathy Preissing

Keeping Everything Fresh and New 

Lower School Dean Cathy Preissing couldn’t be more excited about the start of every new school year. “I feel like this is absolutely the right time and place for me, and that everything I’ve done at Breck has brought me to this place,” she says. “I’m really looking forward to the opportunities I’ll have to learn and grow.”

Cathy has been a first grade teacher, third grade teacher, learning consultant and language arts resource before being named to the position of Dean of Grades 2-4.

She’s looking forward to working with the Lower School’s older children because she’ll be able to help them with the social and emotional piece of growing up as well as the intellectual. And even when her dean’s role is to be the disciplinarian, she wants to stress the positives. “I can help coach so students can understand how we all learn from our mistakes and then move on,” she says.

And she’s thrilled that she can combine the job with her language arts resource position, where she gets to enjoy “that breakthrough moment when kids who have worked so hard to be part of the ‘readers’ club’ finally get it. It’s just magical!”

Cathy’s Lower School colleagues appreciate her personal magic as well. “I am constantly amazed by her,” says Marcy Wegner. “She’s so creative and so good at keeping everything new and fresh. Just watching her has made me a better teacher.”

She’s cherished for her personal qualities, too. “She’s just a blast,” says Peggy Fifield. “Her sense of humor comes through in the way she makes you feel completely comfortable – even when you’re just passing her in the halls. And she always makes time to be a good friend.” Adds Marcy, “I adore her. She’s taught me beading, stamping and card making, and we’ve had such fun in the process!”

Cathy’s Breck family intersected with her actual family last year when grandson Cory started kindergarten. “Being a grandma is the best!” she smiles. “I wish there were better words than just, ‘I love it!’ And getting to experience Breck through his eyes makes me even prouder to be a member of this community. This is an amazing place in how well we live our mission. I see that from many different perspectives every day.”

At home, Cathy enjoys time with her husband Mark (a special education teacher in the Robbinsdale school district), and spending time with her three grown children, Beth (Cory’s mom), Patti and Tom (a professional hockey player now with the Los Angeles Kings).  She’s an avid walker who loves projects including jewelry-making, card-making and sewing. In late August, her second grandchild, Anika, was baptized in the dress Cathy had made for her own daughters.

“I’m a crafty girl,” she laughs. “But I love being busy, and it sure fills up the time!”