Stop by St. Simon School in Los Altos during lunchtime and chances are Sister Margaret Rose Adams will be out on the playground chatting with students.
The new principal has been at St. Simon for just over a month, but she's already established a comfortable repertoire with students. "How's your snack? Who's winning this game? Do you have a test today?" she asked students while making the playground rounds last week during snack time.
"Being visible is key," she said. "I want them to know I'm here."
Sister Margaret transferred to St. Simon from Minnesota in August to replace Sister Mary Glackin, who took a teaching assignment in Peru. Sister Margaret is scheduled to fill the position for six years.
The Minnesota native admitted she was still getting acclimated to the California culture.
"I feel like I'm in a different country. Good weather all of the time is a concept foreign to me," she said. During her first week, Sister Margaret said she knew California was new territory when everyone laughed after she asked if the teachers had to "stay at the convent when the weather gets bad."
Besides the "little things" such as the rolling backpacks, eating lunch outside and the single-story school buildings, Sister Margaret said the school's demographics and academic priorities are similar to the school where she was previously.
Sister Margaret has worked in education for 21 years including 12 years as a first-grade teacher, four years as an eighth-grade teacher and four years as a principal.
She joined the Sister Servants of the Immaculate of Mary - a teaching order based on the East Coast - after she graduated from high school.
"I knew that I was meant to be a sister when I was a little girl. It wasn't an uncommon thing back then," she said.
"It was the only way for a woman to participate in the church ... now you can be a lay person. Back then, that wasn't possible."
Sister Margaret said since St. Simon's founding in 1961, the school has continued to fill the principal's position with sisters from the Immaculate of Mary community.
She said because the sisters receive the same teacher training, it's easy for newcomers, such as herself, to step in without much disruption to a school's program.
Sister Margaret said she hopes to instill the love of learning in children.
She said studies show that today's students will have four career changes within their lifetime.
"They have to love learning," she said.
"They're going to have to learn technology that hasn't been created yet that they will be using in the future."
Sister Margaret said her relocation to St. Simon is an honor, calling the school "the crown and jewel" of her community.
St. Simon, the only school in her religious community based in California, is ranked in the top five out of the community's 100 schools, she said.
"I want to continue to run the school in the legacy of excellence already established," she said.