Greetings, McKinley family!

I am thrilled to be on the McKinley staff team as an Assistant Principal.  This season has been a uniquely challenging time for our city, country, and world, but in the midst of these challenges I treasure the opportunity of working in collaboration with the McKinley community to deliver the absolute best possible education to all of our students.

The path that brought me to McKinley was a winding one.  During this journey, I took on the following mantra and continue to be driven by it today: “Do the most good for the most people in an equitable fashion,” and that mantra is particularly relevant today.  After graduating from high school at Freeport (IL) High School (home of the Pretzels!), I earned an Urban Studies degree from the University of Minnesota.  Education in St. Louis then came calling, and I joined the Saint Louis Public Schools as a math teacher at Sumner High School through Teach For America.  During my six years at Sumner, I also enjoyed initiating the Advanced Placement Calculus program there and coaching the girls and boys tennis teams (including restarting the Boys Tennis program at Arthur Ashe’s alma mater).  After enrolling in the Saint Louis University M.A. Educational Leadership/M.B.A. program and completing administration internships at two area middle schools, I joined the Leadership Team at Clyde C. Miller Career Academy as an Academic Instructional Coach.  I spent eight years at Miller Career Academy and was thrilled to work with a great team for significant academic gains throughout my time there.  

This great teamwork continued when I joined the McKinley team for the 2020-21 school year.  The past several semesters have been some of the most rewarding of all for me from an educational perspective.  In the midst of a global pandemic, I have viewed this season as an opportunity to utilize a “lifelong learning” mindset and grow, and I have seen staff throughout our district do the same thing.  As a result, our team has and will continue to produce innovative educational experiences for students during a challenging time.McKinley’s vision of producing world-class leaders of character, academic superiority, and cultural awareness is especially pertinent in the present season.  Though we face many challenges, we can all learn, lead, collaborate, and innovate, and work together to make this vision a reality.  Let’s make the 2021-22 school year a great one for our Goldbug students!

Educationally,

Nathaniel Lischwe

Assistant Principal

McKinley Classical Junior Academy

Food for thought...

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I've lost almost 300 games.  26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I've failed over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed."  -Michael Jordan