With all the excitement of homecoming week, it was the perfect time to welcome back one of our beloved teachers. After being gone for a few years, Mrs. Swartstrom has finally made her return.

Mrs. Swartstrom teaches both ends of the age spectrum here at St. Dominic, with freshmen in Revelations and seniors in World Religions. These are the only two classes she has never taught before, however, she is having lots of fun with the new content. Swartstrom enjoys getting to learn and experience the class for the first time just as her students would.

In her free time, Swartstrom enjoys doing things outside such as hiking and walking her dogs who, despite being cute, are not the best behaved. Her husband and son, Paul, really like fishing, so they typically do that as a family as well. To round out her outdoorsy persona, Swartstrom enjoys native gardening in her own back yard.

“There are many things that make the St. Dominic community special. There is no other school (that I know of ) where faith is so prominently ingrained within everything that we do. There are so many faith opportunities, but even more humbling, is that each opportunity is packed with students and faculty and staff wanting to be together in prayer. It’s a beautiful community that I greatly missed in my time away, and I hope my children will be a part of one day,” Mrs. Swartstrom said.

If Swartstrom could only teach her students one lesson in life, it would be, “never take for granted the people who work here (not just teachers, but everyone) because these people will teach you how to be true imitators of Christ.”

It is safe to say Mrs. Swartstrom feels very at-home at St. Dominic, and she is very excited to see her old friends and colleagues that she left not a very long time ago. She enjoys getting to catch up with them and still feels supported and loved by everyone in the community. Let’s make Mrs. Swartstrom feel like she never left the halls of St. Dominic.