Lori Walz is the new president and principal of Pacelli Catholic Schools.

If Lori Walz has her way, Pacelli Catholic Schools will become a global leader in education.

“Pacelli is a really remarkable school,” Walz said.

Walz has plenty of experience to draw upon to make that dream come true as Pacelli’s new president and high school principal. Though she originally did social work administration for a number of years, including 12 years in Rochester, she worked for 12 years as a social service administrator and educator inside Winona Public Schools, and she also was part of an administration team for a public charter school in Minneapolis for four years as well. Now, after a year in a transitional role for a school in Utah, she came to Pacelli in mid-August ready to take charge at Pacelli.

“I was looking to come back to Minnesota,” she said.

Walz, originally from International Falls, is excited by the opportunity she has at Pacelli. Walz loves to work in a small school setting. She’s impressed by Pacelli’s history of consistently scoring above state and national standardized tests, and its reputation for post-secondary preparation. With Pacelli’s strong technology background — each high school student is given a laptop to use throughout their time at Pacelli — and its penchant for bringing in international students, Walz sees a lot of potential for great things to happen.

She oversaw the international student program at Cotter High School in Winona, and as a former exchange parent, she’s looking to market Pacelli on an international scale even further.

“It stretched my world,” she said of her time teaching and living with international students. “One of the things that excites me so much about Pacelli is that we have a really strong contingent of international kids.”

Austin residents will see a lot of Walz this fall, as she plans on taking more of an active role in the community and strengthening community partnerships with area organizations. She said she always has tried to take an active role in the community wherever she is, and she’s looking forward to meeting new people and possibly even joining a Vision 2020 committee.

Though her first year carries a lot of firsts for Pacelli as well — with a new chapel and a 100-year celebration to plan, among other things — Walz is looking to work towards her ultimate goal: Putting Pacelli on the map on a local and global level.

“One of my visions is not just that we stay above state and national averages in testing and send all our kids to college — which we do — but that we would become a global leader in education,” Walz said. “I would love to see us become the envy place that international kids go to go to school.”