Retiring St. Philip's principal reflects on job | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

The center will bear her name, but it is the latest sign that Ms. Baker's 13-year tenure as principal of the Linthicum school is nearing its end.

"I will miss the children," she said. "It's always something. You are never ready for what the kids will say and that's the best part."

In June, a career in education that started in 1969 in New Jersey - or even earlier if one counts a dream that began in elementary school - will come to an end.

"I always wanted to be a teacher since I was in fourth grade," Ms. Baker recalled.

In 1981 she came to Maryland and served 10 years as the principal at St. John the Evangelist School in the Baltimore County community of Hydes.

She then taught a range of grades from kindergarten to eighth grade for four years before starting at St. Philip's in 1995. Her stay at St. Philip Neri coincided with an eventful era for Roman Catholics that included two papal visits to the Baltimore-Washington area.

When Pope John Paul II visited Baltimore in the 1990s, and more recently with the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Washington, D.C., St. Philip's students used prayer cards to celebrate the occasions.

"We have 11 handbells and rang them all 50 times to announce his arrival," said Ms. Baker of the day the pope arrived in the United States.

Last week's dedication of the media center drew local dignitaries to the school on South Orchard Road. State Sen. Ed DeGrange Sr., D-Glen Burnie, and County Executive John R. Leopold attended the event.

The media center will definitely be part of Ms. Baker's legacy. She has worked to modernize the school. She had the basement renovated to add the media center, a music room, an art room and a computer room.

"Enrollment and money is always an issue," Ms. Baker said. "We've learned we need to market the building."

Ms. Baker said many Catholics have moved out of the area and that has put a strain on the school.

What is the best part of her job?

"Seeing the children grow, working with them to learn and helping them express their faith," Ms. Baker said. "Our children graduate from here and do well in high school and that's our goal."

Sometimes a principal's job goes well beyond the mundane tasks of securing funds and academic excellence. "Just today a kid came to me for help because of a spider and when we went downstairs the spider was gone. I had to assure the student that the custodian would take care of the spider," said Ms. Baker.

"So today my job was handling a spider."