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Paula Thibault was always good at math and science, but it was a guidance counselor in her Midwestern high school who also saw these traits and nudged her in that direction.

“When I was a junior in my high school, the guidance counselor came up to me and said you should go to this program. … It was a weeklong course in the summer (at Michigan Technological University) and I went with three other girls that I knew from my school, and we looked at every single engineering (major): civil, mechanical, aerospace, chemical,” said Thibault, who teaches upper-level math at Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School. “We just did wonderful experiments and I was on cloud nine. … That counselor knew that I was good in math and science and I needed to see what it was. My dad was a minister, what did I know about engineering? I feel like if someone did that for me, I need to return the favor.”

And that is what Thibault has been doing for the last 16 years at NDBG and why she is the 2024 recipient of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Distinguished Secondary School Teacher Award which “honors a Catholic school teacher who has promoted a school’s Catholic educational vision and who has a strong awareness of a school’s Catholic identity and mission. The teacher is one who has demonstrated excellence in teaching skills and has a positive effect on the moral growth of students.”

Many valedictorians and salutatorians have mentioned Thibault’s impact on them and just last year she won a prestigious award from Clarkson University — the Inspirational Educators Award. She was nominated by Abigail Kienzle, the 2019 NDBG valedictorian, who said, “Mrs. Thibault is the reason I had the confidence to pursue a degree in engineering, and it has been her constant support that has helped me achieve all I have accomplished in my time at Clarkson. As the first in my family to become an engineer, she has been instrumental in helping me navigate the process of becoming an engineer and has been a strong female supporter in a male-dominated profession. I simply would not be where I am today without Mrs. Thibault.”

This caring, family atmosphere, which is fostered by Thibault and her fellow NBDG teachers, continues even when students have graduated.

“The young woman, Abby, who nominated me for the Clarkson Award, when she went off to Clarkson we would try to get together each semester,” Thibault said. “(I would ask) ‘Tell what happened? What did you take? What did you do? How was it?’ It is just interesting to see that growth in that individual, just like a rose blossoming up. There have been several families along the way that just say, ‘Thank you so much for doing what you do.’ I say I’m just who I am. But every once in a well a family will write a note and say, ‘Mrs. Thibault, I am thinking about you. I hope you are having a good time,’ and inevitably that happens on a day when I am having a really bad day. I will write back to the family and say, ‘Oh my gosh, I can’t thank you enough for writing to me right now, because I needed it right now.’ ”

Before starting at NDBG, Thibault, who received her degree in mechanical engineering, worked on the frontlines of a male-dominated field: at General Electric in their Navy Nuclear Program. When she took time off to raise her three kids, she quickly realized the world of engineering and parenting differed greatly.

“Engineers are black and white and when you have to do something you usually have to do it very fast,” she said. “Once I became a mom, I was nurturing kids and there were no black and white decisions anymore. I liked this better.”

When her children got older, she got her teaching degree from The College of Saint Rose, as well as the requirements to teach math, applied at NBDG and has been there ever since. She started teaching algebra and geometry, added pre-calculus, calculus, and introduced statistics and an engineering elective. She also is faculty advisor for the Student Senate, attends numerous after-school activities to support the students, and plays the piano for school liturgies and prayer services.

Her passion for math and science is evident when you talk with her. 

“There are open house days … and the first thing that I ask is do you like math? (Because) if you like math you can be the smartest person in the room. And I usually take the parents aside and say if your girl likes math, they can go lots of places,” Thibault said. “I am starting at the seventh grade level and saying to the kids if you like math you need to understand you can do a lot with that. If I don’t get them until ninth grade I do the same thing. (I ask) where did you come from? What are you going to do? Why is math important? Do you know what you can do with it? Oh my God yes, I am pushing women into math and science.

“I have a purpose because I don’t think some girls would think outside the box. I don’t think they have been exposed to that. I also always wear a jacket and most teachers don’t but I come from a very conservative background, engineering is very conservative. I say to the kids this is important. This says who and what you are. This means something.”

Thibault added that the family atmosphere extends to the teachers and staff at NDBG. These people really care for one another and each and every student.

“If I am not my normal perky self somebody will say, ‘Paula are you OK today?’ That takes a family to do that and also we get together (and talk) about a particular kid — this kid is not doing well in my class, what is happening in yours. It doesn’t happen in all the cases, but it does happen and we just want to make sure that the kid is successful,” she said. “If that means there is something bad happening at home, how can we help them here so that when they go home it is not so bad. If I didn’t have a good family of my own, I don’t think I would be able to do that.” 

As for her NDBG family, Thibault is looking forward to many happy years ahead.

“My husband, the engineer, says if you went someplace else you could make twice as much money, and my answer to that is I can’t pray every period,” she said. “The grass is never greener on the other side. There is a mission here. Kids are important, their faith is important. What they are going to do with their life and how they are going to serve others, that is important.”

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