He will take a pie in the face. He’s fine running on Fayetteville Street in a turkey costume. And he’s down with letting someone else pick the paint color for his office. There’s a small catch, though. The school Turkey Trot is not only physical education, but a fundraiser. And so is the wall color choice, which is up for grabs to the highest bidder at this year’s school gala.
That’s how it goes with Cathedral School’s principal, Graham Witherspoon, or “Mr. Spoon” as he’s known at the downtown Raleigh Catholic school.
Witherspoon, 47, became a first-time principal in April and has already guided a 24% increase in enrollment. While the school represents a first for him, he represents a first for the school, too. He’s the first Black principal of Cathedral School and its first male principal.
A graduate of Catholic schools in northwestern Pennsylvania, Witherspoon graduated from Roberts Wesleyan University in Rochester, New York. He taught at schools in Virginia and North Carolina before becoming a City of Raleigh police officer, a role he held for 13 years. He decided to return to education and was assistant principal at Our Lady of Lourdes School for a year and a half before his move to Cathedral School in April 2025.
While the increase in enrollment is nice, his main goal was to help create an environment with certain values.
“I used to dream of an avenue just to immerse kids in a culture,” he said. “I’d imagine if I was in that seat.”
Today he is in the principal's seat, although he can usually be found in the school's classrooms, hallways and sports venues. He's known for encouraging those around him to "roll" with his plan and energetically replying to what they're saying with "10-4," the police code for "message received."
For him, the culture is one of character and a constant evolution of getting better with no end goal. It’s about how students walk into a room, how they talk in the hallway and how they behave at Mass, he said. Moreover, it’s about students working with intentionality and earning what they have, such as the coats and ties they wear and the ceremony that accompanies them. Those were earned by attending a life skills type of lesson with Witherspoon.
In short, it’s about not stopping. “You don’t get time back. So why not go for it?” he smiled.
David Heinske, director of facilities for Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral, first got to know Witherspoon because of the projects they undertook alongside facility manager Francisco Salas and parent volunteers, during Witherspoon’s first few months at the school. They moved the library and art classroom to the nearby St. Monica building on campus and created an area there for supplemental math lessons. They also created an area for prayer in the school hall. And they moved historical photos to the school hall, which is situated on the bottom floor.
The other two floors of the school, though? Those are for the present. One of the very first things he did as a principal was take photos of the students and have them enlarged to 16X20 posters that are displayed in the hallways. It’s a nod to the school building being a home for them and a place where they can see themselves.
“Graham has raised the bar for academics, Christian behavior and sports … the kids absolutely love him. He has been implementing special gathering areas in the school for middle school students to utilize,” said Heinske. “He has been able to get the students excited about both in-school and out-of-school volunteer activities. Graham has leveraged social media in a most positive way to establish relationships with local business leaders, who have volunteered to come into school and provide talks on various topics.”
When asked what he gained from his experiences as a Catholic school student, Witherspoon said he learned to work hard, work with a purpose and know who he was.
It’s part of what he hopes Cathedral School students will take with them, too. “I want them to leave here comfortable knowing who they are and loving themselves,” he said. “I hope that they know in good times and bad times, Jesus is always there. The man upstairs is never going to leave you.”
Read more about Mr. Spoon in the spring edition of NC Catholics magazine.
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