Santa Margarita Catholic Taps New President, JSerra Loses Assistant Headmaster

From Santa Margarita Catholic High School:

The Diocese of Orange announces the appointment of Andy Sulick as president of Santa Margarita Catholic High School.

As a member of the Santa Margarita’s charter class of 1991, Sulick’s Eagle roots run deep. He then returned to SMCHS in 1996 to begin his career in education working as both a history teacher as well as a football and golf coach. In 2003, Sulick went on to continue his work in Catholic education at JSerra High School initially serving as the founding director of admissions before being named assistant headmaster.

In his role, Sulick was responsible for admissions, marketing, the school’s financial assistance program and athletics while also using his innovative vision and leadership to build fundraising programs, strengthen administrative teams and cultivate relationships.

Sulick holds a master’s degree in Catholic educational administration from Loyola Marymount University and a bachelor’s degree in education/history from the University of Redlands.

“I am beyond thrilled with this hire,” said Principal Ray Dunne. “The Lord has blessed the SMCHS community. It is wonderful to have an alumnus who received a Catholic education and then devoted his career to Catholic education come back to serve as a leader at his alma mater. I look forward to working with Mr. Sulick and am confident he will do a great job. “

Sulick will begin his position at Santa Margarita on Sept. 8. Having substantial experience in both admissions and fundraising at a Catholic institution, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the Santa Margarita community.

“Mr. Sulick has the education and experience in Catholic education that make him uniquely qualified to lead SM through the next exciting years,” said Greg Dhuyvetter, Superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Diocese of Orange. “His proven record of success in enrollment marketing, development, business, and administration, make him the ideal person for this position.”

Sulick spoke fondly of his experience at Santa Margarita during a faculty and staff meeting on Aug. 27 where he was formally introduced as the school’s new president.

“Many of the coaches and teachers I had at Santa Margarita made such an impact on me that I wanted to give back,” Sulick said. “Santa Margarita is a top high school in the country and the reason is because of the people in this room. I value what each of you do. This is the one job I said I always would like to have and I am humbled and honored by the opportunity.”

Sulick pledged to give 100 percent and challenged faculty and staff to continue to pursue excellence, inspire innovation and remain faithful to school’s charism of Caritas Christi, the love of Christ.

“I am happy to be back at the nest,” Sulick said. “It truly is a great day to be an eagle.”

A resident of San Clemente, Sulick is a parishioner of St. Edward the Confessor Catholic Church in Dana Point. He is married to fellow Santa Margarita graduate Julie (Savant) Sulick, class of 1993. The couple has three children: McKenna, 14, Drew, 12, and Noah, 9, all of whom attend Catholic school. Sulick’s siblings, Tim, class of 1993, and Pam, class of 2001, also attended Santa Margarita Catholic High School and his mother was a longtime teacher at the Mission Basilica School in San Juan Capistrano and Our Lady of Fatima in San Clemente, both diocesan elementary schools.

Santa Margarita moved to the president-principal administrative model in 2008 joining the other two diocesan high schools in the county, Mater Dei in Santa Ana and Rosary in Fullerton. The model allows the principal to focus on academics and athletics as well as the religious aspect of the school while the president works to maintain and grow the financial health of the school overseeing fundraising efforts, alumni affairs, advancement, community relations and facilities planning.

Sulick succeeds Paul Carey who served as the school’s president for the past five years. As you are aware, Mr. Carey, our previous president, has elected to pursue other opportunities. We wish Paul and his family continued success in any future endeavors.

And here’s the announcement (in part) from JSerra Catholic High School’s Headmaster, Richard Meyer:

I write to you to share news that is exciting for a member of our JSerra family but at the same
time bittersweet for our school. Our Assistant Headmaster, Mr. Andy Sulick, has been appointed the
new President of Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Effective immediately, he has left JSerra to
begin to prepare for this important responsibility of leadership in Catholic education.

The departure of someone of the caliber of Mr. Sulick affects our entire school community – as
much professionally as emotionally. Andy was one of the first individuals hired to help build the
school when it was still a mere dream of our founders. Under his watch, JSerra enrollment grew from
150 students at our opening in 2003 to nearly 1,200 students this year. He was a constant presence on
the sidelines announcing basketball games, behind the backstop calling baseball games, and in the end
zone cheering on our football team. Indeed, he was always “all in” for anything JSerra ever asked of
him. Though we will miss his affable personality and daily presence on campus, his spirit will not be
far from us as his wife, Julie, will continue to teach for us and his daughter will remain a
member of the JSerra Class of 2018.

We take great pride that one of our own is undertaking such an important position of
leadership. In many ways, if we are successful as an institution, it is natural to expect that staff
members at various points in time will leave JSerra for positions of greater responsibility. This is an
important manifestation of our school’s spirit – a desire not to simply serve JSerra but give light to the
broader spectrum of Catholic education, both close to home and beyond.

In celebration of Mr. Sulick’s dedication and commitment to our school these past twelve years, we will be holding a farewell reception in his honor next Wednesday, September 3, from 3:30-5:00 p.m.