He may have grown up in Southern California, and have been educated and taught in its Catholic schools, yet Michael Bressert admits with a smile that he had to get out the map to find out where Lompoc was.

That was earlier this year, after he had been encouraged to apply for the principal's position at La Purísima School. After having been hired for the job, he has since become quite familiar not only with the school (which observed its 50th anniversary last year) and the parish, but with the little community of 46,000, just south of Vandenberg Air Force Base and a few miles from the Pacific Ocean in western Santa Barbara County.

"I feel like I've come to a great school with lots of potential," says the Orange County-raised Bressert, taking a brief mid-morning break from teaching junior high math. "The biggest challenge for me, apart from growing into the role as principal, is to reinforce the value of Catholic education in the lives of the students, the families and the community, to let people know how a Catholic school can make an impact and be a valuable part of the community."

In his few short months in Lompoc, Bressert has been busy introducing himself and establishing relationships with parishioners, parish organizations like the Catholic Daughters and Knights of Columbus, and leaders in the Lompoc community.

"I have a good relationship with Father Tom Cook, the pastor, and it's exciting and affirming to see so many longtime families associated with the school and the parish," he says. "It's important for a principal to create a bond between the parish and the school."

Within the school itself, he has made it a practice to speak as often as possible to students about the Catholic faith and the traditions of the church. "Kids need to hear that from their principals," says Bressert, a graduate of St. Joachim School in Costa Mesa, Servite High School in Anaheim, and Loyola Marymount University.

In 2007 he completed his master's degree in systematic theology through a several-summers-long program at the University of Notre Dame. "It gives me a more solid groundwork to implement our Catholic beliefs and Gospel values in our curriculum across the board," explains Bressert, a lifelong teacher in and proponent of Catholic schools who taught at Our Lady of Fatima School, Orange, and St. Benedict School, Montebello, before coming to Lompoc.

The importance of, and opportunity for, Catholic education has not been lost on La Purísima's students. "I like that fact that we're allowed to talk about God in our school," says eighth-grader Siena Rasmussen. "It helps my faith grow stronger, and I take more time out of my day to pray."

"You learn really valuable life lessons, like how to treat others with kindness and respect," says her classmate, Patricia Davis. "No one is mean," adds Diana Johnston.

The students and their principal take pride in the school's community outreach efforts that support the local food pantry for the poor and the Msgr. Andrew McGrath Collection (named for a longtime former pastor) to support a school scholarship fund.

A believer in marketing and promotion, Bressert says enrollment has increased since August at La Purísima --- located 20 miles from the nearest Catholic elementary school (St. Louis de Montfort, Santa Maria) --- and he is forming a marketing team aimed at boosting enrollment even higher.

"We offer a program of Gospel values, a safe environment and challenging academics --- the kind of program that benefits any community," says the new principal, who clearly is quite at home in any Catholic educational environment --- no map needed.