FREEPORT—After 30 years as an educator and administrator with the Aquin school system Kathleen Runte’s journey has arrived at a crossroads. Her role as Aquin superintendent and principal will conclude at the end of this school year.

Runte began her Aquin journey in first grade at St. Thomas School in Freeport and continued in the system through her graduation from Aquin Central Catholic High School.

She returned in 1985, ostensibly to teach two art classes, but added history and junior high religion classes and went full time the next year. She became superintendent and principal in 1996.

“I always loved teaching and I never aspired to be an administrator,” Runte said. “With Aquin being a small school there is such a high turnover in administrators.

“So, when the opportunity came I thought, ‘OK, I’ll go to school and I’ll do that.’ But I always loved teaching.

“I miss the classroom,” she said, and I have some really wonderful memories. I miss laughing and enjoying things with my students as they grew up.”

She said humor often carried the day when she was teaching.

“In religion class I always offered extra credit if the students attended something that might be going on in the parish,” she recalled.

“It was maybe the ones who were struggling a little bit and weren’t ‘A’ students in religion,” she explained, “so they would be going to these different parish functions. ... One I remember was a Charismatic Mass. Of course, I would have to go too to see who was there, so I told them what time Mass was to start and when we got there it turned out we were almost two hours early.

“They were stunned to think I had brought them to Mass two hours early. I’m still hearing about that one and we still laugh about it,” she added.

Like most folks about to turn a career corner, Runte has plans including the renovation and sale of the house she, husband Larry and their six children have called home for 42 years.

The couple has grandchildren in the area too, and quality family time is high on her to-do list. She is also looking forward to having more time for her art and said travel is definitely on her agenda.

“I love to travel,” Runte said. “In college I lived in Rome and traveled quite extensively, but not so much since college.

“I remember leaving Rome on the bus to the airport thinking I was going to come back soon, but ‘soon’ is relative, especially in Rome. The Coliseum has been there forever you know.”  

She said she had traveled with Monsignor Eric Barr STL to Medjugorje in the Herzegovina region of Bosnia in the eighties when he taught in Elgin.

“I was the female chaperone when we went there, and other than that I really haven’t been out of the country since college,” Runte said. “Medjugorje might be on my list for a return visit. I haven’t decided yet, but I do know I want to visit Fatima and Lourdes.”

She said substitute teaching is also a possibility in retirement.

“I think I won’t know what to do with the fact that now I can plan my day or decide how to spend my time, but I love teaching,” said Runte. “There are certainly many many service groups, including our parishes that need volunteers so I’m just kind of open to seeing what there is to do.”

She said teaching at Aquin is extremely rewarding.

“I think in a Catholic school you have the best opportunity to teach the whole child,” Runte said. “You can really do what you’ve been trained to do. You differentiate between the kids who all have different needs and religion isn’t just a class, it’s a way of life. It’s helping each other with our faith journey.  It’s a privilege and a luxury to teach in a Catholic school.”