“What exactly does the principal do?”

“Enforces, I guess.”

Panther Creek has had the privilege of being under the rule of Mr.  Nelson – not only the creator of SMART lunch, but also a very proactive and friendly leader of his students.  With his recent retirement and the initiation of new principal Dr. Hedrick, some students think that it is the beginning of a new era at PC;  but is it?

Most people agree that principals have a fair share of influence over their students, but many do not know what they do.  While safe answers, such as: ‘they run the school’ or ‘they make sure that riots don’t erupt’ are  expected, more detail about the job remains an enigma.  If students don’t know their principal’s general responsibilities, how could a principal possibly affect their high school experience?

“I’m not an expert on principals,” senior Sarah Oechslin shared with me.  “I do not know the exact thing a principal is required to do.”   Oechslin also admitted that she and previous principal, Mr. Nelson, never developed any kind of relationship, and therefore, she could not identify any change of her time at Panther Creek directly caused by Mr. Nelson. “He never really impacted me personally because I didn’t have the opportunity to see him or experience how good of a principal he was.”  With this, she gave her final opinion on Mr. Nelson, “he really cared about Panther Creek,” she said, “it was really a part of him.”

In a separate interview, senior Tyler Goldbach shared his thoughts on how the new principal, Dr. Hedrick, will affect his high school experience as he is in the midst of his last year at Panther Creek.  “[The change in principal] affects us because we are used to doing things a certain way,” Goldbach said.

He expressed that his first impression of Dr. Hedrick is that she is hands on and “visible”, especially in the classrooms, but also mentioned that even if she changed some of the policies at Panther Creek, the class of 2015 would be fine.  “Most of these changes might not come in our year [as seniors], and [but might have a greater effect on] the later years because it’s her first year and this is more of a trial for her.”

Senior Zach Harrison also shared his initial observations of Dr. Hedrick, and gave his opinion on why a principal may have more influence on a student’s overall high school experience than most people realize.  “She seems more ‘in’ with the students than Mr. Nelson,” he added,  “she makes herself known.”

Harrison believes that Dr. Hedrick will have ample influence on her students, but it may not be obvious as she has a large school to manage and a capable staff to assist her.  “We have assistant principals for a reason,” he said,  “I think she has plenty of power and I feel like the assistant principals are here to help keep that in check.”

As student body president, it seems logical for Lauren Bulla to interact with the principal more than the average student, and therefore be more heavily affected by the principal.  But interestingly enough, she hasn’t had a lot of contact with Dr. Hedrick, and did not with Mr. Nelson last year, even with her role in student council.

“So far this year, the principal has not had a direct impact on me or student council,” she said.  “Specifically for what I’m doing, with student organizations and student events, they go directly through Mr. Olin because he is head of all student events.”  Bulla added, “I feel like, in general, the principal only intervenes when it comes to bigger events.  If it has to do with county stuff, that would be through Dr. Hedrick.”

Freshman Riley Adams also offered some of his thoughts on the extent of a principal’s impact on student life in high school, and ultimately, just like a majority of other students, does not know anything about the principal’s specific responsibilities.

“If you’re principal doesn’t care, then the people at the school won’t be disciplined, I guess.”  Adams shared that principals should be able to have a lot of power as long as they don’t “go overboard with it.”  He added, “There should be some limits.”

Different people have different perspectives and opinions on a principal’s ability to impact a student’s overall high school experience.  And while students feel differently about the subjective aspect of the investigation, the majority all agree that they do not know what the principal does during the day while school is in session;  well, besides the causal, vague response like “they enforce”.