Throughout the month of September, freshman Eden Flowers got the chance to sit down with some members from our administrative team- Mrs. Dantagnan (principal), Mrs. Panzavecchia (vice principal), and Ms. Smith (disciplinarian) to get the inside scoop on why Chapelle is so special, what drives them to be the best that they can be, and a typical day as administrators.

Dunn-dunn da dunn, the queen’s coming! Oh, it’s just Mrs. Dantagnan! What’s a typical day like for her as one of the most important puzzle pieces to our school? Dantagnan says there’s a lot of meetings and little “fires” that take place during her day, but all of it helps move Chapelle forward. Any time that she gets, she meets with other faculty members to make sure everything is running smoothly.

Did you know Chapelle had spend-a-days back in 1984? That was 40 years ago! Mrs. Dantagnan is an alumna (class of 1988), and when it was her time to make a decision on what high school she wanted to attend- she went to a spend-a-day and immediately fell in love. She had so many options, but she felt home here at Chapelle. Later, when she graduated college, she decided to come back home where she bled green and white.

 At Chapelle, we go by our motto “Deus Providebit… God will Provide,” and we mean it. God’s presence is so clear here, and Panzavecchia says it’s because we are authentically Catholic, and aren’t just here to walk the walk. In Chapelle classrooms everyday, we learn about our faith and why it should be important for all students to implement in our lives to become the young Catholic women that we aspire to be. God is truly present in everything we do.

Lastly, Eden got to interview our disciplinarian, Mrs. Smith. Let’s all face it, the title “dean” might get a bad rep. Every time a girl gets called to her office- she’s shaking in her boots. To help alleviate all the stress, Mrs. Smith says that most of the time; she just wants to talk. If people didn’t say hateful things or do bad stuff, her job would be pointless. She wants everyone to feel safe in her office, and clean up whatever they have done. 

Our administrators are the backbone of Chapelle. Without them, we wouldn’t develop. Panzavecchia is a huge believer in modeling the expectation, she states that to ensure excellence in us students, faculty, and staff; she likes to model that for us. It’s like a chain reaction! If administrators see other administrators doing the hard work, it motivates them. If teachers see administrators doing the hard work, it motivates them. If students see teachers doing the hard work, it motivates us. That’s the beauty of it. Chapelle has this crazy drive, and as Panzavecchia says, “we work hard to play harder.”

Questions about this article? Feel free to email flowers.eden@achschipmunks.org