The Willow Glen Resident New Face: Mark Pierotti, left, arrives at Bellarmine armed with a lifetime of Jesuit education, according to Fr. William Muller (right). Lay principal takes the reins at Jesuit college-prep school Mark Pierotti chosen as Bellarmine's first non-ordained leader By Mary Spicuzza Regardless of what Bellarmine College Preparatory teachers have on their lesson plans this week, references to change, fluidity and the passage of time will undoubtedly dominate some classroom discussions. For the first time in its nearly 150-year history, Bellarmine will begin next school year without a priest as headmaster. That news came last Thursday as Fr. William Muller, Bellarmine's president, announced that the school's six-month search for a new principal had come to an end. Mark Pierotti, a lay person with lifelong experience in Ignatian education, will take over the position of headmaster beginning July 1. "One way of considering our mission is to think of us as forming a mosaic," Muller wrote in a press release announcing the hire. "The colors and shapes available to the mosaic keep changing. In the midst of the changing colors and shapes, the principal is the one who leads the formation of our mosaic." Bellarmine's latest principal search reveals the extensive changes taking place in the private boys school and the entire Jesuit community. For the first time the search was open to all qualified candidates--both ordained priests and lay persons. Mr. Pierotti will be moving to the area from North Bethesda, Maryland, where he has served as academic dean and associate headmaster at Georgetown Preparatory School for nearly three years. Before taking that position, he was the school's dean of students for six years. Although he has not been ordained into the order, Pierotti has been an active member of the Jesuit community his entire life. Pierotti attended Jesuit schools growing up and earned his degree at Johns Hopkins University. He was impressed with Bellarmine. "The academic programs and sports, the spirit of students, the wealth of extracurricular activities and the faculty struck me as something that would be a natural match for me," Pierotti says. "I'd like to continue that nurturing learning which teaches young men about service to the community." Busy Pierotti now uses his free time to act as national chair of the Jesuit Secondary Education Association's conference for academic assistant principals. "Mr. Pierotti brings to Bellarmine a keen sense of Ignatian education and an imagination for the future," Muller says. "I have complete confidence that he will gain the respect of the entire Bellarmine community." For 150 years, the Bellarmine community has been devoted to the teachings of Saint Ignatius Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, also known as the Society of Jesus. Bellarmine's mission is to form "men for others." According to Muller, Pierotti "speaks the language" of the Bellarmine mission. Despite the changes over the years, Bellarmine has retained its mission for 150 years. It reads, "We are a community of men and women gathered together by God for the purpose of educating the student to seek justice and truth throughout his life." [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, February 10, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.