Principal Mrs. Julie Barthel has announced that Mrs. Gretchen Watko ’00 has been named the school’s director of counseling.

Watko began her Cathedral career in the admissions office in 2014. In the summer of 2016, she started her master’s in school counseling at Butler University. That same year, Watko moved to the school’s counseling department. Watko earned her master’s degree in 2019.

Watko said, “I am very excited and blessed to have the opportunity to lead our team of highly skilled, trained professionals who do amazing work meeting the needs of our students and supporting our mission of transforming students’ lives socially, emotionally, physically, intellectually and spiritually.”

Barthel said, “Gretchen is an integral part of the Cathedral counseling staff, and she has a great vision for the future of the department. She is a third generation Cathedral graduate, and she will be a great leader who will continue to serve students and our families in the area of counseling and college and career readiness. We are very excited about Gretchen and her new role.”

Watko will assume her new duties this summer. She will take over the counseling director role from Mr. Duane Emery, who has accepted a position at Sycamore School.