Shiner Catholic School principal announces resignation

Shiner Catholic School Principal Neely Yackel will be resigning at the end of the school year (effective June 30).
“I am going into educational consulting after this,” Yackel said. “I’ve been here for 17 years. Before that, I was a teacher in Gonzales ISD for ten years. I came here for a tour at the Catholic School and took a spot as Assistant Principal my first two years. I then became Principal in 2010. 
A lot has changed during my time here, but I think it’s time to pass the torch and let somebody new take over. I will always completely and totally love this place. This school has been such an integral special part of my family. Not just my career, it’s my family.”
Yackel is the longest standing Principal at Shiner Catholic School. Yackel believes it’s time for something new for her. She chose to go into educational consulting so she can have a more flexible schedule. 
“I’m still going to be involved in the Catholic School,” Yackel said. “I will always be a huge supporter of this place.” Yackel said she’s proud of the product that she and the school have produced over the years. 
“Our kids are leaders in their fields and leaders in their faith,” Yackel said. “They’re like my children. It’s a really unique dynamic. Being here with most of the students their whole entire life has been special. I will miss the children the most, these kids have become my family.”
Yackel said she fell in love with the school the moment she started working there. “This was not on my radar at first, but it was on God’s radar,” Yackel said. “I’m so thankful I got this position. I fell in love with just about everything here. It was love at first sight and I still feel that way in my heart all these years later.” 
Yackel said the most rewarding part of her job was seeing how the students changed and evolved over the years. 
“The people that our students become in life has been very rewarding to me,” Yackel said. “The spiritual aspect of this job and being able to integrate God into everything that we do here has also been very rewarding to me.” 
Yackel said that along with the students, the faculty and staff are also her family. 
“I’ve felt very close to these teachers and staff and all of these things are a huge factor that made my decision to leave very hard,” Yackel said. “At the same time, I feel the same pull that I felt all these years ago to come to the Catholic School. 
I feel it to go into whatever God needs me to do right now. I’m excited to see what that looks like too and what that next stage looks like and how I’ll be used by God in that next stage.”
Yackel said the community has been very supportive of her decision to leave. 
“There’s a lot of excitement in change and newness and I hope that will be embraced by the school,” Yackel said. 
A piece of advice Yackel would pass to her successor is to trust in God. 
“You have to really hone in on what God wants you to do and how He wants you to lead,” Yackel said. “We really just facilitate this place and God leads it. I’ve seen my role as a facilitator on what the bigger plan is and that’s really just God’s plan.”
Yackel has much trust and faith in her teachers and knows they will integrate well into the new changes for the school.
Applications can be found at www.victoriadiocese.org/employment-opportunities. Deadline for applications is February 17.