Fate Brings Mrs. Gelb Back to Green Bay and NDA

Fate+Brings+Mrs.+Gelb+Back+to+Green+Bay+and+NDA

Elaine Chosa, Staff Writer, Journalism I

After going many places, fate brought Mrs. Katie Gelb, head librarian, back to Green Bay and to NDA. 

Gelb graduated from NDA in 1995 and her favorite class was College Credit English, which inspired her to study English education in college with a minor in Spanish at UW-Stevens Point. 

In the last semester of senior year she “lived and studied in London and traveled a lot over [her] time there.” 

Directly after her graduation from UW-Stevens Point, Gelb began work on her master’s degree at the University of Massachusetts Boston. 

“I had completed my education to be a teacher but felt like I needed to learn more to be a good teacher, so I went on to graduate school with the plan to earn a Master’s and go on to a Phd in English,” said Gelb. 

Over 1,000 miles from Green Bay, Gelb didn’t know anyone in her new city, but soon made friends and attended a housewarming party that eventually impacted her life in a huge way. 

Gelb’s husband, Matt, just so happened to be at the housewarming party and “I was introduced to him because we were both from Wisconsin,” said Gelb. 

Matt, who attended Boston College, became Gelb’s tour guide around her new city, and they dated for the duration of Gelb’s studying– and became engaged the week before Gelb’s graduation. 

“We talked a lot about how we’d like to begin our life together in Wisconsin, so we both began applying for jobs in Madison, Milwaukee, and Green Bay,” she said.

Gelb accepted a teaching job at her alma mater, Notre Dame Academy, and taught Honors Sophomore and Honors Senior English in the 2002-2003 school year.  

“It was a super fun year,” said Gelb. “I shared a room with Mrs. Brown, moderated Triton Club (a kind of spirit club), helped with marketing for the musical (Les Miserables that year), and worked on planning our wedding, which was in June of 2003 just after the end of the school year.”

The enrollment at NDA changed after the 2002-2003 school year, so Gelb accepted a position to teach English at Ashwaubenon and coached the swim team for four years. 

At the end of her years at Ashwaubenon, Gelb’s twin daughters, Ella and Megan, were born and then her son, David, three and a half years later, so she chose to stay home with them. 

Gelb’s time at NDA was not over, though, as she stayed in contact with the principal and accepted her current position in the school’s library while they prepared David to go to preschool.

 “I’ve really loved being back at NDA–I have the opportunity to work with students, and be a part of a super great community,” said Gelb. 

This year with the pandemic, the school’s library has been greatly affected and “feels a little lonely,” said Gelb. 

However, she and her cohort Mrs. Treena Leonard have found creative ways to reach students by “connecting with students individually, mostly via email to fill requests, help with research, answer questions and get them books and materials that they need.” 

Gelb is excited to have her two daughters as freshmen at NDA next year and to watch them grow in a place where she feels “blessed to work with a pretty incredible group of kind,  thoughtful, and smart people, and the NDA families are amazing as well.”