Aaron Parr ’10, the newly named president of St. Pius X Catholic High School in Atlanta, credits the BSC community for preparing him to lead with confidence. 

A history major, Parr took some education classes and found himself called to teach. “I really just fell in love with all aspects of that,” Parr says. “I had incredible professors at Birmingham-Southern. They got to know me as a person. They were always there to help me, and we had great discussions. Being able to know your professors personally and have them help you with all things sometimes even bigger than academics, I thought was really unique.” 

As president of St. Pius X Catholic High School – his high school alma mater – Parr is determined to make sure his students feel that same type of connection with their teachers.  

“I’m big on making sure that every kid in our school has a relationship and feels a part of the community, whether that’s with one teacher or one administrator,” Parr says, adding that community is especially important for today’s student. 

“Coming out of COVID, there are a lot of kids who still are struggling with how to interact socially and also facing mental health challenges,” he says.  

From the court to the classroom

Parr also played basketball at BSC, which served as another steppingstone for his future career.  

“I honestly credit my coaches at Birmingham-Southern for giving me the love and passion to coach,” says Parr.

Parr consistently donates to the Birmingham-Southern basketball program in part because of how he feels the program helped him become the person and the educator he is today.  

“The basketball program had a huge impact on me and everything that I’ve done in my life,” he says. “We traveled to games all over the country. I still remember some of those trips, some of the bonding experiences, and how it instilled a lot of mental toughness. I want to make sure that kids that are going through that program now have the same experiences that I was able to have.” 

Once Parr knew that education was the path for him, BSC set him up for student teaching at Mountain Brook High School. After graduation, he landed a job at St. Pius X teaching history and coaching boys’ basketball at St. Pius X. After earning a master’s degree in education administration from Concordia University Irvine, he became director of admissions at St. Pius X. Six years later, he was named interim president and will become permanent president on July 1.  

Reflecting on how his undergraduate years helped prepare him for his career path, Parr says, “I really learned how to think critically and how to get out of my comfort zone in terms of learning and thinking outside the box at Birmingham-Southern.” 

As an educator, Parr pushes his students to do the same. 

“One of the challenges in education is how to teach kids how to utilize technology properly,” he says. “There’s a lot of resources for them now that even weren’t around 10 or 15 years ago. And so it’s really changed the game in terms of how you have to look at education. Sometimes you have to step back and help kids understand that it’s OK to not always need technology to learn and grow.” 

Despite the challenges that educators face today, Parr loves his work. “The most rewarding thing is when you see kids really overcome challenges and you’re with them to help them through those challenges,” he says, “whether that’s a kid in class who struggles and then works really hard and gets extra help and figures it out at the end or whether it’s a kid who overcomes an injury in sports or who has something tough in their home life and is able to overcome that and do well. 

“When you see kids overcome challenges and see that they’re confident and happy, you feel like you’ve really done your job well and prepared them for life after high school.” 

Reframing failure

When it comes to succeeding and overcoming challenges, Parr believes confidence is key. To instill confidence in his students, Parr urges them not to fear failure.  

“I am a big believer in reframing failures,” he says. “I think failure is really good. There are opportunities for growth; there are opportunities for learning. A lot of times when kids feel like they’ve failed, they lose confidence. I try to really encourage failure with my students. I think if you’re not failing, you’re really not learning and growing.  

“So I try to reframe what they may think is a negative and turn it into a positive. And I think, in turn, that ends up giving them confidence to try new things, whether it’s in the classroom or with an extracurricular activity.” 

Leading by example, Parr isn’t afraid to take chances either, whether that was signing on to be head basketball coach when he was only 23 with no coaching experience, or launching a leadership class for seniors at St. Pius X. 

Parr says that during his time at BSC, he found his confidence in community – on the basketball court and on campus. “Getting involved in something at your school — that’s where you can really find your niche,” he says. “I think every student needs something that they that they’re passionate about.” 

But he believes every student also needs support.  

“The thing I liked about Birmingham-Southern was that you were known,” Parr says. “You’re not just a number on campus; you’re a person on campus. I felt the community. I felt like the adults there were there because they cared about the kids that went there and wanted to see them improve. That gave me a lot of confidence in myself because I felt like the people there really cared.”