At Catholic High School, Virginia Beach, Tal Covington has moved up the “cursus honorum.” The longtime Latin teacher and assistant principal for the past seven years began his new role as principal July 1.
“When I was offered the opportunity to jump fulltime into administration seven years ago, I had to consider if I wanted to do it, because I really love teaching,” said Covington. “The reason I made the jump is because the community at Catholic High School is amazing, and I was very inspired to support them.”
Covington still teaches one level of AP Latin a year.
“Teachers are the ones building those daily relationships with students,” he said. “Administrators support the students by supporting the teachers.’”
In his 13 years at the school, the community inspired Covington not only to augment his professional experience with an administration role, but also to “come home” to the Church.
“I grew up Baptist. When I started working at Catholic [High School], I was Christian, but I didn’t have a denomination,” he said. “I started going on retreat with the kids, going to Mass every week at school, and it led me back to God and the Church. I went through RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), completed it this past summer, and received the sacrament of confirmation into the Church in July.”
Looking ahead to the school year, Covington is excited that the school will be partnering with Hallow, the Catholic prayer app.
“All students will get Hallow accounts through the school, so they’ll have full use of the application on their Chromebooks, or on their phones,” said Covington. “It’s a great app to organize your prayer time and center yourself.”
One challenge the school faces is what Covington called “a good problem to have”: ever-increasing enrollment.
“We used to have an average class of 115 kids – now, our freshman, sophomore and junior classes are all over 130,” he said. “Because of our boost in enrollment, we’re doing everything we can to meet the needs of our growing population.”
He said that items on his agenda include hiring more teachers, redesigning classroom space, and a potential capital campaign to build more classrooms.
“I see it less as a challenge and more of an opportunity,” said Covington. “I’m blessed to lead this school. I truly love it.”
Read about new superintendent of Catholic schools Dr. Michael Riley.
Read about new associate superintendent Jim Grillo.
Read about new Roanoke Catholic principal Megan Potter.