Rosarian Academy’s incoming head of school is bringing a blend of business, law and education experience to the West Palm Beach private Catholic school founded in 1925.
Sharon Lencheski, a former in-house counsel and sports marketing executive, joined the school in 2022 and will officially assume its top leadership role in July. She will succeed interim Head of School Virginia Devine, who Lencheski says has served as a mentor during her transition.
“Ginny has been the absolutely most gracious person that she could be in this role,” Lencheski told the Daily News. “She has included me in every meeting, she has taught me the ropes, made the suggestions. She’s learned from me, and I’ve learned from her. I’m knee deep in it, but I’ve got some mentorship.”
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Lencheski studied psychology at a small Jesuit college before attending law school in Delaware. She and her husband went on to launch a sports marketing and entertainment firm handling sponsorships and partnerships for General Motors Racing across NASCAR, IndyCar and other motorsports brands.
After selling the business in 2008, she focused on raising her four daughters and became increasingly involved in local schools, serving on committees and teaching.
“Education just lit me up,” she said. “I enjoyed my kids, and I enjoyed working with other kids. I just like to give back and make a difference.”
Lencheski’s path to education began unexpectedly. Guest lecturing at a local high school led to a position developing a business curriculum, which sparked her interest in teaching. When she moved to Florida, she toured Rosarian Academy — which serves children from early childhood through middle school — for her daughter’s placement, and that led to a social studies teaching job. From there, she moved on to become department chair, dean of students, director of the middle school and now head of the school, which numbers among its students many from Palm Beach.
“Life takes you in directions that you don’t realize,” she said. “I knew that kids and education and all those things were important to me, but the way it manifested itself just evolved over time. I am extremely blessed to be able to be here.”
Lencheski addressed a range of topics in an interview with the Daily News, which has been slightly edited for clarity. She discussed her early priorities as head of school, Rosarian’s Dominican Catholic identity, enrollment trends, her vision for the school’s future and Rosarian students’ regular visits to organizations such as St. Ann Place, an outreach center that serves homeless people.
What are your priorities as you ease into your role as incoming head of school?
The things that are very important to me are making sure that the academic rigor is there, and going with a traditional education (approach), but at the same time, bringing it into more of a contemporary status these days. Electives, forward-facing life skills — things like that are important. Some of the things that I am looking forward to doing is being true to our Dominican roots, which is very much about deep prayer and serious study, but at the same time, infusing things that are much more contemporary so that they’re competitive within the market — absolutely maintaining the Dominican charism of prayer woven into our day here.
You first joined Rosarian as a middle school teacher and department chair. How has that classroom experience influenced your vision now as head of school?
The thing that I like about the fact that I started out as a teacher and have been in these different roles is it gives me an immense amount of empathy. When I can, and I usually joke around, probably because I worked in motorsports, but I usually say, ‘I’ve turned the wrenches. I know where you guys have been. I understand the real-world pressures of parents and kids and grades and everything with it.’ So, I have basically been prepared with the things that I’ve done that make me have empathy. It makes me have credibility more than anything — understanding. So, by being in all those different roles and being a teacher, I think it makes me well suited to say I understand where you are coming from.
Rosarian has a long history in West Palm Beach and recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. How do you see the school evolving over the next decade while still honoring its traditions?
I want to do justice to the past hundred years. I want to make sure that the history and tradition are absolutely understood, remembered, adhered to. But at the same time, we have to make sure that we’re relevant still. I think there are some people that think, ‘Oh, well, they’re just an old Catholic school, and it’s not up with the times,’ and it couldn’t be further from the truth. Whether it’s walking into our beautiful theater, enjoying our brand-new athletic fields or experiencing the curriculum, electives and brand-new music program we have next year, I think the next hundred years, to me, are all about being true to the vision, true to the mission and not forgetting where we came from — but making sure we remain relevant and that our students are prepared for the future.
Palm Beach County continues to grow rapidly. How is Rosarian responding to that growth in terms of enrollment, facilities, and programs?
Thankfully, we’ve been stable for several years now. Even since the COVID pandemic, we have every year been growing more and more. Our max number is 500 (students) and I am pleased to say we’re at 483 right now. It’s because we can be choosy that we’re not at 500. We always leave a little bit of a buffer, so that if there are siblings or relatives or alumni that need some space to come in, we can do that. But many of our grades for next year are already filled, and it’s actually allowed us to be — and I don’t want this to sound bad — but even more selective and exclusive, because it’s not about having to fill seats at this point.
What do you believe sets Rosarian apart from other private schools in the Palm Beach area, especially for families who may be considering their options?
I would absolutely say it has to be our Dominican charism, our Catholicism. It is having prayer in our daily life and making that a part of these students’ experiences. There are many, many schools here with wonderful academics and very good athletics, but the fact that we can offer an aspect of spirituality is very exclusive as far as I am concerned.
What are your goals for strengthening connections between Rosarian and the broader West Palm Beach community, whether through service, partnerships or outreach?
We’ve established relationships with nursing homes, where we’re sending kids in to sing at Christmastime. We’re over at St. Ann’s Place once a week. We go over to The Lord’s Place where our students will do pumpkin carving and decorate Easter cookies with the kids. The more that we can get involved with the local community and give back, it goes right along with our Dominican charism. We’ve started it, but we really enhanced it, especially over at St. Ann’s this year. And the hope would be, with so many needy people in the world, to continue fostering those relationships.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: West Palm Rosarian Academy’s next head of school brings diverse career
Reporting by Jodie Wagner, Palm Beach Daily News / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
