JEAN ROSS

Jean Ross has been in education for 50 years. Among her many accomplishments, in 2000, at an age when most people would have been contemplating retirement, she accepted the challenge of saving a failing high school. That year she became president of Salina’s Thomas More Prep-Marian High School (TMP-MHS).

Six years later, the school now has a balanced budget, enrollment has increased, and Thomas More Prep-Marian High School is flourishing. Ms. Ross refers to her school as “God’s House,” in response to her belief in the power of prayer. When contemplating difficult issues, she routinely invites faculty, students and co-administrators to pray in the chapel for divine wisdom and intervention.

Ms. Ross joined the Sisters of St. Agnes at the age of 15 and remained for 23 years. She began her professional teaching career in 1955 in Catholic elementary and high schools in Wisconsin, where she taught and later moved into administration. In 1980, she returned to her hometown of Hays as a public school principal and later joined the central administrative staff of the Hays public school district. After 11 years of service, she felt it was God’s providence to accept the position at TMP-MHS.