SAN DIEGO — The Principal’s Office has a new occupant this year at eight Catholic schools in the Diocese of San Diego.
Among the elementary schools, they include: Brooke Brundy, St. Mary’s School, El Centro; Sister Susana del Toro-Vargas, SJS, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, San Ysidro; Tina Demarchi, Holy Trinity School, El Cajon; Josh Englund, St. John School, Encinitas; Karen Shannahan, St. Mary Star of the Sea School, Oceanside; Paige Villalobos, St. Therese Academy, Del Cerro; and Amber Wilson, St. Martin of Tours Academy, La Mesa.
Additionally, Sara Odioso is now the principal of Cristo Rey San Diego High School.
Brooke Brundy
St. Mary’s School
Brooke Brundy had never pictured herself as a teacher.
But friends from school told her that she was “very good at explaining things.”
As a college graduate, she went back home to the Imperial Valley, where her mother shared that St. Mary’s School in El Centro, where Brundy had attended preschool and kindergarten, had a job opening for a fifth-grade teacher.
“I decided to apply to take a moment and decide what I wanted to do next,” said Brundy, who ultimately decided to continue as an educator.
She would teach at St. Mary’s for five years, followed by teaching positions at other schools, including St. Michael Academy (now closed) and St. Didacus School, both in San Diego.
“God was the one who orchestrated my career,” she said, explaining how she became a Catholic educator 12 years ago.
When it came to her decision to seek the position of principal at St. Mary’s School, she credits the same Person.
“Again, it was all God,” she said. “I cannot really explain it, but everything lined up (so) perfectly that I knew it was God. There was a need, I prayed about it, and God gave me the perfect sign.”
Brundy holds a bachelor’s in Health Science, with an emphasis in Chemistry, from Colorado Christian University, and a Master of Education degree with a focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), emphasis in Educational Leadership, from the University of San Diego.
She said her goal for this year at St. Mary’s is “that my students can see Christ reflected in their teachers, in each other, and in themselves; that they leave St. Mary’s School ready to set the world ablaze as Christ sent out his disciples.”
“I want them to enter St. Mary’s to learn,” she said, “and leave ready to serve, wherever God takes them.”
Sister Susana del Toro-Vargas, SJS
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School
Sister Susana del Toro-Vargas, a member of the Sister Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, became a teacher in response to a divine call.
“It was a calling from God,” she said. “In fact, I didn’t want to be a teacher, until I realized the solution to many of our society’s problems is a faith-based education, loaded with Gospel values.”
She accepted the position of principal at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School this year, not out of a desire for career advancement, but in response to “the needs of my religious community.”
Born and raised in Mexico, Sister del Toro-Vargas is new not only to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School, where she now serves as principal, but also to San Diego. She moved here on July 2.
Though she exclusively attended public schools, she said that Catholic schools are special because of “the privilege to teach, share and instill the beauty of our faith in our children.”
Sister del Toro-Vargas earned a bachelor’s in Liberal Studies from the University of Northridge and a master’s in Administration and Leadership from the Jesuit University of San Francisco, and she has 20 years of experience in education.
She began that career as a junior high religion teacher at Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy in Calexico from 2006 to 2009.
At Our Lady of Guadalupe School in Bakersfield, she was a junior high teacher from 2009 to 2012 and principal from 2012 to 2023.
Prior to her current assignment, she returned to Our Lady of Guadalupe Academy, Calexico, to teach junior high religion from 2024 to 2026.
Reflecting on her new role, she said, “I’m called to trust God as I come to serve a community totally new to me. I look forward to building caring relationships, practicing servant leadership and being part of the great mission of our Church to evangelize others and myself. The challenges I foresee are keeping the school community safe, meeting the needs of all students and inviting parents to be practicing Catholics.”
Tina Demarchi
Holy Trinity School
Tina Demarchi began attending Catholic school in fifth grade.
“This experience grounded me in our Catholic beliefs and traditions and provided a Catholic community and foundation where my faith could grow,” she said.
Demarchi earned a bachelor’s in International Relations and Religious and Theological Studies, a dual major, at the University of San Diego, where she later earned a master’s in International Business Administration.
As an educator, she spent five years running a homeschool-focused tutoring business, Almadayo Academic Services, which she co-founded in 2021; eight years as a religious formation teacher at Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá; and more than 15 years as a parent guiding her four children in their schooling.
Of her new role as principal of Holy Trinity School, she said, “This is my first formal experience working in a Catholic school in a professional capacity, though my years as a religious formation teacher at the Mission gave me a strong foundation in parish life and catechesis.”
She also gained firsthand experience from a parent’s perspective when her children attended St. Therese Academy and she served on the PTG board for five years.
“I love our Catholic faith and I wanted to be able to serve families that seek to form their children in accordance with their Catholic beliefs, with an education that goes beyond academics alone,” she said. “I want to be in a community that seeks God first and incorporates the truth, goodness, and beauty of our Catholic worldview into all subjects and daily routines.”
“My number-one goal this year,” she said, “is to build on the strengths that make Holy Trinity special: It is a family of families. … Alongside that, I’m working to strengthen our curriculum across every grade and to put the school on solid financial footing, so that the community we already have can keep growing for years to come.”
Joshua Englund
St. John School
Joshua England wasn’t the product of Catholic education – and for good reason: He was a nondenominational Christian until his conversion to Catholicism 25 years ago, two years after his wedding at St. James Catholic Church in Solana Beach.
Today, however, he’s a strong advocate for Catholic education.
“What makes Catholic education so special is that it is faith-based, service-oriented and academically excellent,” he said. “It is so rewarding to see the students grow in their faith, get excited to serve others through service-oriented projects, and seeing the students excel through their academics.
“Both of my girls attend Catholic education,” he added.
Englund holds a bachelor’s in Liberal Studies and a California Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from California State University, San Marcos. He has a certificate in Catholic School Administration from Loyola Marymount University, where he is currently finishing a master’s in Educational Leadership.
Altogether, Englund has 21 years of experience in education. Eighteen of those were in Catholic education, specifically at St. Mary Star of the Sea School in Oceanside, where he was principal for the past four years.
He has appreciated how Catholic education allows him to “freely practice my faith and, hopefully, inspire others to be on a faith journey following God.”
“The added bonus of being at a Catholic school is the community, parents, faculty and students,” he said. “Catholic schools have the best group of parents and students.”
Reflecting on his role as principal of St. John School, he said, “This will be a new challenge for me, as this school is three times larger in enrollment and faculty as my previous school. I am confident that I will rise to the challenge and be an integral part of the St. John community.”
He said his primary goal this year will be “to be there for the teachers, students and parents.”
Karen Shannahan
St. Mary Star of the Sea School
It was as a sixth-grader at Holy Trinity School in San Pedro, California, that Karen Shannahan first considered a career in education.
“I liked school, liked teachers, and respected the principal, Sister Paula,” she said. “But I ignored my calling to the vocation of teaching for many, many years.”
As a result, she has only been in that field for 10 years, but in that time, she has held various roles, including as a teacher of third through fifth grade and as a principal.
“Catholic school gave me the foundation for my faith life and my academic endeavors beyond high school and contributed to my development in virtue, especially faith, charity and self-discipline,” said Shannahan, who attended Catholic schools from kindergarten through 12th grade. “Having such a fun experience in Catholic schools … meant the world to me and is what brought me to teaching and eventually leading a Catholic school.”
Shannahan holds a bachelor’s in Business Administration from Minot State University in North Dakota and a master’s in Education Administration, Curriculum and Supervision from the University of Oklahoma. She also attended Loyola Marymount University’s Catholic School Leadership Certificate program.
Retired with her husband in Colorado Springs, Colorado, they moved back to California in July to be closer to family. She begins her new job at an important moment for the community.
“This is the 75th anniversary of St. Mary Star of the Sea Catholic School,” she said. “My goal is to celebrate the Catholic education that the sisters started in Oceanside back in 1951. I want to make it a memorable year for alumni and current families alike.”
Of her goals, she said, “I would also like to increase enrollment and have the school bursting at the seams with Catholic students to carry on the sisters’ legacy.”
Paige Villalobos
St. Therese Academy
Born and raised in Bakersfield, Paige Villalobos is the product of Catholic education, which she credits with having “helped form both the person and the educator I am today.”
“I benefited from being part of communities where faith was not something separate from learning or daily life,” she said, “but rather something that shaped how we treated one another, approached challenges, served others, and understood our own purpose.”
Villalobos moved to the Bay Area for college and remained in that region for the first 17 years of her career in education.
After eight years as principal of St. John School in the Diocese of Oakland, she moved to San Diego in 2024 to serve as vice principal of St. Therese Academy in Del Cerro.
This year, Villalobos will be leading the school as principal.
“What excites me most is that I am not starting from the beginning,” she said. “I have spent two years learning alongside this community and building relationships.”
“I have come to know our families and understand many of the traditions and strengths that make St. Therese Academy special,” she said. “Now, I have the opportunity to build upon that strong foundation, while helping envision what comes next.”
Villalobos holds a bachelor’s in Liberal and Civic Studies and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential from St. Mary’s College of California, as well as an Administrative Services Credential and Master’s from the University of California, Irvine.
At Catholic schools, she said, “We are helping children understand who they are, whose they are, and how they are called to use their God-given gifts in the world.
“We have the privilege of teaching students that achievement and character matter, that faith and reason complement one another, and that how we treat others is every bit as important as what we accomplish.”
Amber Wilson
St. Martin of Tours Academy
Amber Wilson’s first students were animals.
“I knew from a young age that I would one day work in education because I had the best teachers and I wanted to be just like them,” she said. “I even remember lining up my stuffed animals and pretending to be their teacher when I was (in) about third grade.”
A native San Diegan, Wilson earned a bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education from San Diego State University and a master’s in Teaching from National University.
She has worked in education for about 16 years, at various grade levels as well as in special education. About five of those years were in Catholic education.
“Catholic education especially appeals to me because it allows me to help students grow both spiritually and academically,” said Wilson, who came to St. Martin of Tours Academy about five years ago after having worked for multiple school districts in East County.
Prior to becoming principal of St. Martin of Tours Academy, she had served there as a sixth-grade and eighth-grade homeroom teacher and, for three years, as vice principal.
“St. Martin of Tours Academy has always felt like home,” she said. “The students, families, parish, teachers and staff have given so much to me, and I felt called to serve this community in a new way by helping lead and support the school I love.”
She said she feels “grateful, honored and excited to begin this new role.”
“My goal is to listen, learn and build on the many strengths that already make St. Martin of Tours Academy so special,” Wilson said.
“I look forward to building relationships, celebrating our wonderful school community, and helping everyone continue to grow together,” she said. “I know there will be challenges, but I am confident that, by working together with faith and collaboration, we can meet them.”
Sara Odioso
Cristo Rey San Diego High School
A love of math sparked Sara Odioso’s desire to become a teacher.
“It is such a beautiful subject that helps us understand patterns in the world around us. However, people stereotypically are fearful of or hate mathematics,” said Odioso, who holds a bachelor’s in Mathematics from Allegheny College and a Master in the Art of Teaching (MAT), with a Secondary Mathematics focus, from the University of Pittsburgh, main campus.
“I wanted to teach math,” she said, “so I could help all students see the beauty of the subject.”
When she moved from Pittsburgh to San Diego about nine years ago, Odioso took a teaching position at Nativity Prep Academy. There, she “fell in love with teaching to the whole child.”
She believes that this focus on the whole child – a concept that means addressing a student’s social, emotional, spiritual and physical, as well as academic needs – is something that makes Catholic education special.
“Content is important,” she said, “but how we use our knowledge in the world once we go to college and start our careers is what helps change the world.”
Of her 15 years as an educator, nine of those years have been in Catholic education.
Most recently, she was dean of curriculum and instruction at Cristo Rey San Diego High School, from 2023 until becoming the school’s principal this year.
“This is a big role, and I take that responsibility seriously,” said Odioso, who is pursuing a Doctor of Education in Education Leadership, with a focus on Math and Science, at San Diego State University.
“Having had the pleasure of working with this community for the past three years,” she said, “my primary goal is to support our teachers in continuing their growth, to learn more about each of our students and families, and to listen and learn from the community, so we can best support its individual needs.”
