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Teacher 'light of faith' for students, staff

Story and photo by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

At St. John the Baptist School in Red Bud, teacher Kelly Barbeau stands out as a light of faith to school personnel and people of the parish as well.

Principal, Kris Hill, said she knew Barbeau fit the criteria as soon as she saw the kind of people The Messenger had in mind.
“She is the rock of our school when it comes to faith and belief in the power of prayer,” Hill said. “She is an inspiration to me daily, and my staff and students see her as a model for them.”

When The Messenger caught up with her, Barbeau was practicing for Living Stations of the Cross with fourth-graders.

Living Stations has become a tradition at St. John’s that began when Barbeau invited her fourth-graders to participate.
One year when she considered not doing the Living Stations, she was persuaded by her students to keep the tradition alive.

The students understand the Stations better when they portray them, Barbeau said and that was one of the reasons she began the “Living” Stations. “The students feel the pain of Jesus and Mary,” she said.

Barbeau, who also attended St. John’s and then Gibault Catholic High School in Waterloo, said teaching at her former elementary school has become “such a part of me I wouldn’t think of doing anything else.”

This has been her first and only job, joining the staff 29 years ago. She also serves as the school’s assistant principal.

“I’m inspired by the students’ innocence, of believing and trusting,” she said. Hill said: “She goes beyond the expected in teaching religion to three classes. They are all involved in service projects, liturgies and most of all prayer.”