St. Leo the Great was renowned as a learned Doctor of the Church, a great Christian leader, protector and peacemaker who, with great courage and total faith in God, confronted the vicious warrior known as Attila the Hun.

 The Lincroft school which bears the saint’s name is headed by a new principal, Cornelius Begley, whose military background and positive outlook embody the patron saint’s attributes as leader, educator and protector of body, mind and spirit.

Begley earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the United States Military Academy, West Point, N. Y. Due to his high class rank, he was awarded his first choice of assignments and was stationed at Hawaii’s Schofield Barracks on the island of Oahu. He first served as a target acquisition platoon leader in charge of all radar and survey equipment, then as a battalion adjutant who supervised a nine-member staff of the Personnel Administration Center.

 “I love working with people, leading them, showing them how far, how fast, and how high they could shoot” Begley observed. He was medically discharged from the military due to a shoulder injury, thus prompting him to weigh his next career step. His choice of Catholic education enabled him to lead a much younger group of students into another kind of challenge.

Upon his return to the mainland, he took a position at Christian Brothers Academy, Lincroft, as a physics teacher to junior and senior-year students.  “Catholic education prepares young people to assume leadership positions in witness to Gospel teaching,” Begley observed, explaining his new career. At CBA he served as the secondary school’s student council advisor, but outside the Lincroft school’s walls, Begley was busy exploring a hobby he had enjoyed while at West Point: scuba diving.

Begley became a master diver and trainer at a Jersey shore dive center and certified the center’s students in scuba, first aid and basic CPR. He shared his expertise in the underwater activity at the secondary school by serving as CBA’s scuba diving club advisor.  Further exemplifying the St. Leo role of protector of the weak, Begley also taught basic life support courses to health care professionals and community members at CentraState Medical Center, Freehold.

In May, 2009, Begley earned a master’s degree in educational leadership, management and policy from Seton Hall University, South Orange, then joined the staff of St. Leo the Great School as its vice principal in September 2009.  The transition from the military life to that of a Catholic school principal has been smooth, for Begley can draw many parallels between fighting for his country and teaching the young to fight for the Lord. “Our goal at St. Leo is to continue the tradition of academic excellence in faith formation and raise the bar academically and spiritually,” he stressed.

Married last fall, he and wife Jayme just returned from a belated honeymoon to visit the Hawaiian Islands. Begley laughed when reminded he is about to also become responsible for 600 children inside the walls of St. Leo. “It is a diverse dynamic to walk through the school,” he noted, describing the different grade levels’ enthusiasm for learning. Begley’s move to the helm of the school this September will complete both his career journey and echo that of its namesake; a Christian leader modeling the great saint’s faith in God.