Joan Fitzgerald, BVM, Celebrates 60 Years at Xavier College Preparatory

It was 10:30 at night when the train from Chicago pulled into the Phoenix station. Two recent Mundelein College graduates stepped out into the 107-degree air. BVMs Joan (John Raymond) Fitzgerald and Kathleen O’Brien were visiting Kathleen’s family before heading to their assignments in California.

Later that night, while trying to sleep, Joan recalls, “I brought my beautiful pink wool satin-trimmed blanket for my bed. I woke up about 4:00 o’clock in the morning. The air conditioning wasn’t working, and I thought, ‘If this is what Arizona is, oh, please God, save me from this place.’”

Three years later, she was assigned to Phoenix. It was 1962 when she moved to the “little city.” Xavier High School was small then too, she says, and they have grown side by side.

According to Joan, this growth in the population of Phoenix required Xavier to be a leader in education, predict and adapt to educational/technological changes, and be a place that supplies opportunities for young women.

Growing Together
Originally, this all girls BVM school was located on the campus of Brophy College Preparatory. In 1953, it moved into Fitzgerald Hall on its current campus. More buildings were added as enrollment grew. In 1982, college preparatory status was granted, and Xavier High School became Xavier College Preparatory (XCP).

Joan’s career at XCP parallels the growth of her surroundings. Arriving to teach, Joan later became the school treasurer. “I never imagined I’d be here for 60 years . . . I came here as a Spanish teacher and then, in 1968, Xavier became a diocesan high school in the Diocese of Tucson.”

She shares how the superior wanted her to teach “a little bit of Spanish” but also wanted her to serve as treasurer. Joan states, “I said, well, why would I be the treasurer? I don’t know anything about it!” The superior replied, “Well, Sister Joan, your mother was a bookkeeper; you could learn.” And so she did. Joan served as treasurer until she became principal in 1974.

Looking back, she says, “Being treasurer was probably the best preparation I could have had for being a school administrator . . . getting the finances in hand is so important.” Also important: recognizing talent and assembling an exceptional staff. In her first year as principal, Joan recruited BVMs Lynn Winsor and Joanie Nuckols. Lynn and Joanie were teaching at another BVM Xavier High School . . . in St. Louis. They joined her team and these three women, “the dynamic trio,” have forever changed the landscape and trajectory of Xavier.

Pursuing Excellence
Serving as principal for 42 years before being named the school’s first president in 2016, Joan’s vision, leadership, and determination have been integral in developing Xavier into the academic and spiritual powerhouse that it is today.

Lynn shares, “In her 60 years at Xavier, Joan has made a lasting imprint on the hearts and minds of thousands of Xavier students, faculty, staff, and parents.” As a nationally recognized leader in the field of education, Joan has impacted the educational mission of the Diocese of Phoenix. According to Lynn, “She has led by example, nourished a sense of care for all, and has truly lived the BVM core values of freedom, education, charity, and justice.”

The Heart of BVM
Living out the BVM core values has been paramount for Joan. “I didn’t know anything except BVM education until after I graduated from college. I went to Sacred Heart in Boone, Iowa. I started in first grade, went through 12th grade, then attended Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa, and then Mundelein College in Chicago. I just thought everybody ran schools like the BVMs did. I had really professional, well-educated people as role models. I was always so proud to be able to kind of imitate what they did because they were such great examples.”

There have been many achievements, awards, and accolades, but for Joan, one of her “high points” was in November of 2021 when Xavier paid off a $28 million dollar debt for campus improvement. “They never teach you that when you’re in administration you need to be a fundraiser. Thankfully, we have very supportive parents and community members. Now everything we raise can be for scholarships. We have many students who are coming to high school as first-generation students. We are preparing them to be first-generation college students.”

One of her biggest challenges is keeping up with the salary scales of the public schools for her teachers. “That’s what we want to do and yet keep the tuition down. It’s a balance between making school affordable and treating our teachers and staff justly.”

Joan says one of her proudest moments was facing COVID-19. The diocese closed the school and only a few days later, the teachers were fully converted to an online format. “They did such a wonderful job,” she says. Her pride in her faculty is palpable as she continues, “The next year we were partly online and partly in the classroom. That was exhausting for our teachers, but just to see how they rose to the occasion was very impressive for me.”

This year brings a smile. As students and faculty are back in-person, “running around and yelling to each other.” Joan says, “It is great. Noise is good.”

Joan says she’ll “probably stick it out here for a while” and plans to spend retirement at Mount Carmel Bluffs (MCB) in Dubuque, Iowa. Until then, she plans to continue visiting MCB during elections and community meetings and loving and leading her staff and students.

About the author: Kari Litscher is a communications specialist for the Sisters of Charity, BVM in Dubuque, Iowa.