Catholic parishioner finds joy, affirmation in serving students, families in public schools
“What do You want of me, Lord?”
Rhonda Allen weaves Donna Marie McGargill’s “Servant Song” into her daily prayer.
“Where do You want me to serve You? Where can I sing Your praises? I am Your song.”
Ms. Allen, a lifelong member of St. Peter Parish in Jefferson City, is a newly-appointed assistant principal at Lewis and Clark Middle School in the Jefferson City Public School District.
“One of the things I’ve been taught since a very young age is that God is everywhere and He loves us all,” said Ms. Allen. “He’s in the child that you see on the playground when people are doing something nice for someone else, or the one standing up to a bully.”
She commits herself daily to recognizing the face of Christ in everyone she meets — students, parents and fellow administrators and educators.
“For me, that’s the bottom line, to love everyone as Jesus did,” she said. “That’s what God wants us to do: to be kind and loving to everyone.”
She’s also committed to setting a good example for the children and adults she encounters.
“Our parents need so much guidance and love as well as their children,” she said. “If I can plant those seeds of love in what I’m doing and saying and what I’m teaching, then I’m doing the work of God.”
A great example
Ms. Allen holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Lincoln University in Jefferson City and recently completed a master’s degree in educational administration from Grand Canyon University in Arizona.
Her mother, Saundra Allen, taught in Catholic and public schools for 37 years and set a convincing example for her.
Rhonda wasn’t drawn right away to following in her mother’s footsteps.
Intent on becoming a reporter, she headed to the University of Missouri in Columbia to study journalism.
“If I weren’t teaching, that’s what I’d be doing,” she said. “I have a passion for writing and learning more about people.”
But it just didn’t feel right.
“I’ve always enjoyed working with kids,” she said. “I did lots of summer camps.”
She transferred to Lincoln and changed her major to education, “just to see where it would lead me.”
It turned out to be a perfect fit.
“You know that feeling that ‘this is the path I’m supposed to be on?’ That’s God leading you,” she noted.
She wound up getting to teach with her mother for two years at East Elementary School in Jefferson City.
Together, they formed an after-school group called the SWAN Club, which stands for “Success We All Need.”
“We started it for kids that needed some extra love,” Rhonda Allen recalled. “We did service projects with them and they raised their own money to take themselves out to dinner. We performed a play at Christmastime.”
“What’s most precious”
After teaching at East Elementary for two years, Ms. Allen transferred to Thorpe Gordon Elementary School in Jefferson City.
She served there for 17 years, most recently as the behavior interventionist.
In addition to teaching, she conducted student musical productions and searched for other ways to help children become active and engaged.
The Jefferson City Public School District honored her as its Teacher of the Year in 2017, just as it had done for her mother in 1997.
Rhonda Allen explained that as a behavior interventionist, “I was stepping out of the classroom and now I was a classroom coach telling people how to run a classroom.”
“I was holding social skills groups with kids of all ages — learning how to be kind to other people, how to get along, how to emotionally regulate,” she said.
She also helped adults develop skills for working with students who struggle in their classrooms.
Building up trust with parents is essential, she said.
“We understand that they are sending us what’s most precious to them, every single day,” she stated.
This past year, after completing her second master’s degree, she applied for a position as an elementary school assistant principal.
“My heart was really set on what I knew I was going to be doing,” she said. “Until I interviewed and didn’t get the job!”
Then she got a call to interview for an assistant principal role in a middle school.
“I’ll tell you, when I walked into that school that day, something in me — I know it was God — said this is the place you’re going to be,” she recalled.
Two days later, she got the call, offering her the position.
“Over and over, I’m feeling God’s reassurance,” she stated. “It’s like He’s telling me, “I’m not going to lead you this far to leave you behind now. I’ve given you everything you need to be successful. So go do it!”
“God is love”
Ms. Allen remains active in St. Peter Parish, serving as a cantor at Mass.
She said serving in a public school challenges her to serve God differently.
“I can’t say outright what I’m praying or thinking,” she said. “But I don’t think I have to. Through my actions and my words and what I’m leading these children to learn and be, it should be clear that I’m a follower of the Lord and that I love Him so very much.”
For her, it starts with understanding Who God is.
“God is love,” she said. “He’s magnificent. He’s amazing. He’s merciful and just.
“When I think about What He is and Who He is to me, then I can take that and say, ‘Now, how can I be like that with the people I meet and the students I teach?’” she said.
She cited many examples of God sending students and parents into her life in need of understanding and help.
“Again, it comes down to seeing the face of Jesus and doing His work, no matter who you’re doing it for,” she said.
“Even if it gets tough, I have to remember to keep my eyes on Him and keep saying to myself, ‘What do You want me to do right now? What do You ask of me now?’” she said.
Often, He asks her to stay the course in helping vulnerable children and families.
“You can’t give up on these kids,” she said. “You never know what they’re going to grow up to do. So every day needs to be a new day. Every day hast to be a fresh start.”
She is confident that God is answering her prayers and leading her to do His work.
“There’s a peace that comes about me in the choices I’m making, the decisions I’m making, the words that come out,” she said. “And it’s also about what happens next, whether it’s immediate or later.”
An inspiring conversation
One day, Ms. Allen was having lunch with her friend Elizabeth Huber.
Ms. Allen talked about how many students she has taught who have the ability and drive to succeed but are held back by chaotic aspects of their home lives.
“I said, ‘If I ever had money — and that’s never going to happen because I’m a teacher! — but if I ever had money, I’d build my own school,” she said.
It would provide a live-in experience where the children have structure and learn important life skills in a community, in partnership with the parents.
“I felt like if you could get those kids and keep them in a program like that, then you could possibly see their real potential and then see what they could grow up to do in this life,” she said.
Mrs. Huber took her words to heart.
Over time, the idea evolved into a boarding school that would offer the opportunity of an excellent Catholic education to families who could use the help.
Known as St. Nicholas Academy, in honor of the patron saint of children, it offers a three-way partnership among the child’s family, the St. Nicholas staff and St. Peter Interparish School in Jefferson City.
Beyond what’s comfortable
For herself and all who carry out any aspect of educating children, Ms. Allen asks for prayers for wisdom, stamina, patience and openness to God’s inspiration.
“Doing whatever it takes to help students succeed is what I believe in doing!” she recently stated online. “Students, parents and school staff working together as a team creates an atmosphere for students to do their best and achieve great things.”
She is quick to recommend that parents — whether their children are in public or private schools — go out of their way to lift them out of their comfort zone.
“Go to festivals and events where there are different people and cultures and where people don’t look or think or believe the way you do,” she advised.
“Just giving them those life experiences — you might have to make yourself uncomfortable sometimes, but that’s how life is,” she said.
She also suggested showing children how to recognize every person as someone to learn from.
“And definitely be open to having uncomfortable discussions and not shying away from talking about culture, socioeconomic differences, all of those things to help your kids understand that not everybody in this life is like us,” she said.
It’s difficult, but it goes a long way toward helping young people grow up to be kind and cooperative, she said.
