Mr. Stephen Adams

My name is Stephen Adams and since 2015, I have had the privilege to serve at Christ the Teacher Catholic School. From 2015 - 2020, I served as the Assistant Principal.  On July 1, 2020, I was blessed to be named as the Principal of CTTCS, and the first lay leader of the school.  CTTCS is a school known both nationally and locally for its excellent reputation of providing high-quality academics in a Mercy tradition of faith and I am humbled to be chosen as the second Principal.

I am a native of Wilmington, Delaware, and a product of the Diocese of Wilmington.  I attended St. Anthony of Padua Grade School (Little Italy, Wilmington) and Salesianum High School (Wilmington).  I have ministered at several different parishes in the diocese in their music and liturgy programs.  I earned a Bachelor of Arts (Italian Studies/Education/Music) from the University of Delaware while studying for a major part of my junior and senior years in Italy.  After graduating, I taught Middle School Math, Religion, and Science in the Diocese of Wilmington at St. Helena School (now closed) and Holy Angels School. I also substituted and taught summer school and remedial math skills courses for various public school districts. Before coming to CTTCS, I was the Assistant Principal at All Saints Catholic School in Elsmere.

I earned a Master of Education (M.Ed.) in School Leadership (PreK-12) from Wilmington University with a National Principal Certification from NCATE.  I hold a certificate and license from the State of Delaware in the areas of Middle School Math, Principal/Assistant Principal (PreK-12), and as a School Leader.  I have also completed graduate-level courses at Harvard and was selected to participate in Boston College's two-year Catholic School Leadership program.

I have served on various diocesan committees in the areas of curriculum, leadership, faith formation and training, and assessment.  I continue to serve on the Domestic Schools Advisory Committee for the Middle States Association of Colleges & Schools which works to recommend accreditation for schools throughout the world.  In the summer of 2017, I was chosen as one of eighteen educators from the U.S. to travel to Israel as part of the "Bearing Witness" program which strives to further develop the relationship between the Catholic and Jewish faiths and the important contributions of the Jewish people and religion to society as well as the impact of the Jewish Holocaust in history and modern-day society.  For thirteen years, I served as organist and Director of Liturgy & Music for St. John the Baptist-Holy Angels Parish in Newark, as well as a pastoral musician for many parishes in the Diocese of Wilmington.

I enjoy the challenges of education and the fact that no two days are ever the same.  I enjoy working with students, teachers, and parents to make sure that children feel they have a safe place where they can fully experience the teaching-learning process.  One of my favorite things to do is work with eighth graders as they plan their futures and pick out high schools and then see the joy on their faces when they tell me they were accepted into the high school of their choice. The constant development of educational technology in our building and in the education industry makes me excited for the future of this field.

At the end of the day, I try to instill into students and teachers the maxim of our diocesan patron, St. Francis de Sales, to “be who you are and be that well” and to live in the present moment; and those of our Mercy patron, Venerable Catherine McAuley: “Let us take one day only in hands at a time.  Resolve to do good today and better tomorrow.”