Moving to a new school can be very taxing on students. New teachers, new classes, new names and faces, and a whole new social hierarchy to have to master. But what many people don’t see is that it’s often a very similar struggle for administration members in their first year at a new school.

Last year, Assistant Principal Hillary Baker had her first year at FHC, and she struggled to learn where she fit, memorize new names and faces, and feel at home in her new school. But this year’s a whole new story.

“So far, my second year is going great,” Baker said. “It’s nice to come here this year and begin the year having relationships and having built rapport with staff and students and with families. So that’s been the best part.”

Baker spent last year learning the ropes at FHC. This year, she feels more than ready to start truly diving in.

“This year, I’m not gulping from the firehouse like I was last year,” Baker said. “Part of it is because I’ve been assigned some new responsibilities in the building that are pretty large. So I feel like last year was a lot of learning– learning about standardized testing and learning all kinds of laws- federal and state- around all kinds of issues. So this year, I’m feeling much more like I know what I’m doing.”

As she continues to feel increasingly confident in her position as Assistant Principal, Baker is ready to start implementing change that will better our school. However, before any of her dreams for our school can become a reality, she understands that relationships have to be built. So, for now, she is focusing her energy on continuing to grow in relationship with the FHC community.

“This year, for me, I just want to continue to learn and grow,” Baker said. “It’s continuing to get into classrooms as much as I possibly can and see the good student learning that’s happening out there. That for me is a goal. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the administrative end of the job. Like today, I had to get out of [the office], so I took a half hour and went to classrooms to see the amazing learning happening.”

Although learning more about the staff and students at our school is something Baker must do, she doesn’t see it as a chore.

“I think my favorite part of my second year is just knowing staff and students,” Baker said, “and being able to go down the hallway and say ‘Hey Ashley.a�� When I came in, I was new to the community. So as simple as learning people’s names [is], feeling like I know who people are [means a lot]. So that’s a good thing– that I’m developing relationships with people.”