Photo Courtesy of Holy Spirit Preparatory School

ATLANTA—Three weeks ago, Aimee Viana was relocating her family to Georgia from Virginia, helping her daughter move into her college dorm and prepping her two youngest children for their first day of school. To add to the chaos, Viana needed to prepare for her own first day of school as the new president of Holy Spirit Preparatory School.  

Family is the driving force behind Viana’s values. She knows how hectic the back-to-school season is and understands the stress parents feel when preparing for a solid school year. In stressful times, she recalls the morals her parents fostered.  

Viana is the daughter of Cuban immigrants who taught her to value family, faith and freedom. Viana’s parents worked tremendously hard to provide her and her sister, “the ultimate gift of a Catholic education,” she said.  

“I will always have a deep gratitude for their commitment and efforts,” she said. “They made such a huge investment of themselves to be able to provide that for us. I feel like what I do in many ways is representative of that spirit.” 

In her new role, Viana will echo the principles her parents taught her to ensure students receive a strong Catholic education at the Atlanta school. 

Before being president, she is a parent, and she will cultivate the two roles so that families feel their students are loved and protected.  

“I feel very lucky to lead a school that is striving to form young men and women to live out their God-given potential,” she said. “The catechism teaches us that parents are the primary educators of their children, and we are here to partner with families. We have an unprecedented opportunity to walk with the family in the formation of their child.” 

Viana brings a rich experience of education to Holy Spirit Preparatory. She previously was a partner at Partners in Mission School Leadership Search Solutions. 

She held two positions at the U.S. Department of Education, one as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the other as executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics.  

Before Virginia, Viana and her family lived in North Carolina. In the Diocese of Raleigh, she served as the senior executive director of the Secretariat of Lay Formation, Marriage and Family Life and as principal of two Catholic schools.  

“I’ve been very blessed to serve God’s people in a wide variety of ways, but what has never lacked is that commitment to children, families, youth and serving them with the ultimate goal of changing lives,” Viana said.  

As executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, Viana promoted the strategic goals of the Department of Education to meet the needs of Hispanic students across the country from pre-school to higher education, she said.  

With a significant number of Spanish-speaking students at Holy Spirit Preparatory, Viana finds that it is a blessing to be able to embrace the communication with the students and their families.  

She feels that simply communicating in the language they feel most comfortable in will be a building block for supporting a safe environment at Holy Spirit Preparatory.  

“I feel very strongly that relationships are the solid foundation,” upon which school communities are built, Viana said. “I have a passion for building positive and joyful school culture. So, when every person in the school community feels seen, loved and respected, I think that leads to building God’s kingdom.”  

Viana’s youngest children are students at Holy Spirit Preparatory, in 10th and first grade.  

“I value that I am not just a president, but also a parent at the school,” she said. “It really allows me to see the spectrum of the educational experience of students here.”  

Viana said that she and her husband try their best to live faith in a way that’s “very real” with their children. They are parishioners of Holy Spirit Church. 

“Faith is a gift we give to our children, and we’re both educators, so I like to think we teach by example,” she said.  

Viana said she feels called to this new role.   

“My goal is to encourage and empower our students, faculty, staff and families to create a community of joy and continue to offer a transformative education through timeless values,” she said. “We are committed to a Christ-centered academic excellence. My goal is to form faithful young men and women.”