For decades, this school was dominated by males—male students, male teachers, male administrators.

That changed in 1976 when girls joined the student body. Mrs. Victoria Temple ‘88 was a freshman in 1984, eight years after the first females joined the Irish family.

It took 44 more years for the school to have its first female board of directors chairman. Temple now serves in that role.

She has been heavily involved in the school throughout her high school years. Temple said, “I was Senior Class president, so you’re kind of always involved. I organized class reunions and sent a letter to our whole class after graduating asking for donations for the Cathedral fund. That was probably how it all started.”

After graduating high school, she went on to the University of Notre Dame and then the Ohio Northern University of Law.

Temple then became a member of the board of directors. “I have served on the board for about 12 or 13 years, I think,” she said. “Then the former board chair asked if I would consider (becoming board chair) and I said yes. The full board, roughly 25 members, then had to vote on it.”

As part of the board of directors, she has an influential role in how the school operates. “(The board of directors) is the governing body of the school. We are asked to ensure the Catholicity of the school and we have to reaffirm our affiliation with the Holy Cross. We are also in charge of the financial health, wellbeing and strategic planning, as well,” Temple said. “We are not involved in any of the daily operations of the school.”

Growing up, Temple had a great deal of female influence in her high school education. As she began her college career, however, that changed when she graduated from high school and enrolled in college, where Temple noted that most of her professors were men. “At Cathedral, my teachers were probably largely women. But in my professional career, I didn’t have as many, honestly. A lot of my mentors have been men and my job is a very largely male-dominated industry,” she said.

She currently serves as the chief executive officer of The Schneider Corporation and her brothers the chairman of the board. This company is primarily focused on surveying and engineering. “My dad ran the company before I did,” Temple said, and who noted that she and her brother run the organization. 

Temple said she doesn’t feel as though being female has affected how she is seen as the board chair. “I don’t think anything has been challenging because I’m a female,” she said. “I just think I look at things a little bit differently because I’m a female.”

Since Temple graduated, there have been a multitude of changes. “So much is different now. We were a lot smaller than the school is now, and we have a lot more structure during the day now than there was in the ‘80s,” She said. “There’s so many more clubs and activities here now, especially for girls to participate in than when I was here.”

She was a part of one of the first classes to be admitted to the school that included girls. “When I first went into my freshman year, in 1984, girls had only been allowed in for around eight years, so it was still the very beginning and we’ve definitely improved,” Temple said.

Temple said she wants students, especially girls, to understand that they can someday be a member of the board of directors, too. “When I was a student, it never occurred

to me that I could be on the board let alone be the chair of the board. Everyone on the board was all someone’s dad,” she said. “There weren’t any females that I knew of that were in these high leadership positions at Cathedral. For me, I want other young female students to realize they can be anything they want to be, and hopefully someday come back to Cathedral and want to be a part of our community.”

 And on a final note, Temple said she would like to see more of a push for the arts on the Hill. “I think we need to have a bigger discussion and focus on the arts.” Temple said. “I want the arts, academics and athletics to be seen as equals.”