After an extensive nationwide search and months of deliberation, President Alan Carruthers unveiled his pick to be the new principal of St. Louis U. High: Matthew Stewart, SJ ’98. 

Stewart was informed of the decision in a private meeting with Carruthers on Dec. 26.

“It was kind of surreal,” said Stewart. “Since then, it's sunk in more and the excitement of the moment, I've been able to appreciate it more. And the other piece of it was, I couldn't really tell anybody. And so it was just sort of my news. I want to tell everybody and get advice and think about how to do this better and start to share the news, right?”

Though this will be his first time as the principal of a school, Stewart is expected to be a great fit to succeed current principal Ian Gibbons, SJ.

“I’m really excited to work with him,” said Carruthers. “He's fun. He's smart. He's disciplined. He's caring. He's funny. And he cares about the boys, and he cares about obviously the Society of Jesus and the Ignatian mission. So that's a win-win. And I need that; he's my partner in this whole thing.”

This combination of academic, merit-based credentials and desirable personal characteristics will hopefully allow Stewart to excel in his new position.

“Father Matt is a unifier and he's a charismatic person who can inspire people to communally solve problems, which sometimes means personal individual sacrifice,” said Carruthers. “And I think that’s where we’re probably going to have to go as a community. We are going to have to make sacrifices to really keep our school moving forward and growing.”

The process that resulted in Stewart’s appointment was a rigorous and thorough one, putting him up against accomplished applicants from across the country. 

The finalists, selected by the Principal Search Committee over the course of the first semester, were SLUH Director of Campus Ministry Matthew Stewart, SJ ’98; Clayton High School Principal Dan Gutchewsky, Ed.D; and Xavier High School (N.Y.) former Principal Michael LiVigni.

“Even though Father Matt is an alumnus, and he's a Jesuit, he certainly was never a shoo-in,” said Carruthers. “I think the process provides him with a mandate to stand on and say, ‘No, I got this job based upon merit.’ I believe strongly in meritocracy, and Father certainly earned this position and earned the opportunity to be our next leader.”

Throughout the process, a series of constituent panels—including faculty, staff, parents, and students—interviewed the other finalists and offered their assessments for Carruthers to take into consideration for his final decision.

“He was either the number one pick by most or all stakeholders, and he was extremely well thought of, or it was tied in some way between him and one or the other candidates,” explained Carruthers.

Stewart’s role as principal comes on the heels of Gibbons’s upcoming departure, after his six years as principal at SLUH, which included leading the school community through a pandemic. Gibbons managed to keep the school community on track despite the struggles brought upon by Covid, from both a curriculum and school management perspective. 

“Father Gibbons really led us through some critically complex processes,” said Carruthers. “Father Matt is going to need to lead our community to kind of regain that hop in our step, if you will. I think the exhaustion and the malaise that kind of took over some folks with regards to what it means to be in community, what it means to be in communion, what it means to be active, what it means to be faith, active, what it means to serve our greater community.”

The qualities needed to propel SLUH into the next academic year were in the forefront of the search, and Carruthers found those in Stewart.

“I think Father Matt will hopefully reenergize and inspire us to again come out of ourselves and again, kind of bring us back to a joyful experience of educational at the same time, continuing the work of father in which was improving quality improving program and get keeping those processes going,” said Carruthers.

Stewart is excited to take on the challenge.

“Dr. Kesterson asked me what's something I've learned about myself in the process,” told Stewart. “I said, ‘One of the things I've learned is I really want this job.’ And because it got me really thinking about our school and the nature of schools and the kids there and the faculty and the colleagues, and I just kept getting more and more excited about the possibility of working with people and helping shepherd our school into this next period.”