With the days of summer coming to an end, the start of the 2023-2024 school year approached quickly. Behind the scenes, administrators and staff worked diligently to piece everything together.

The night prior, Principal Amy Boone recalls touching base with others to ensure that staff members felt capable of a successful beginning while also preparing for her first day in action as the new principal of SHS.

“(I was) excited to get the school year started and excited to have students and staff back in the building,” Boone said. 

Now, after months have passed, Boone has reflected upon the highlights of this academic year as she revisits the lessons she has learned and paves the way towards what lies ahead.

Through the course of the semesters, Boone was satisfied with how the school maintained stability and continued to strive toward excellence. 

“School was still going, teachers were here, students were learning so that’s the huge success,” Boone said. 

Even in the midst of success, Boone accumulated new wisdom as she navigated through struggles. 

One struggle, in particular, Director of Secondary Education and former SHS Principal Brian Knight is familiar with. 

From his experience, Knight has learned that there is a strong difference between the principal and assistant principal role. 

“As the principal, you are responsible for everything but you are not always the one who does everything,” Knight said. 

Knight understands adapting to this transition can be challenging but noticed Boone’s perseverance at letting go.

“So, I think it’s been fun watching her transition,” Knight said. “I had no doubt she would be successful but that transition is hard and she’s done a great job.”

Now, Boone has learned to handle responsibilities to her team with trust while guiding them, rather than taking action herself.

Even while adapting to these new norms, Boone and the staff at SHS shift their focus to what lies ahead in the 2024-2025 school year. 

As the staff piece together plans for next year, they have also pushed their efforts towards developing a freshman success team.

With this success team in place, Boone strives to ensure that students are on track to graduate. 

“While we have a high percentage of students that are on track after their freshman year, we want to try to target students that are at risk of not being on track,” Boone said, “and put supports in right away rather than trying to play ‘catch up’ the next three years.” 

Boone had, also, discovered that many freshmen were missing key details about the culture of SHS; so, she began a process of restructuring iPASS along with her team.

Through this revamp, teachers will be able to communicate general information and foster important skills. For example, teachers can introduce the wide range of clubs offered at SHS while also helping them construct well-mannered emails so they can reach out to those clubs.

While the time frame and transition period will remain the same, Boone wants to attempt to keep these IPASS classes the same throughout each year to help students create meaningful connections upon entering high school.

“It’s kind of trying to create a family and some consistency for four years,” Boone said. 

So, as Boone wraps up her first year in this position with plans for next year and a look back on all that she has learned, she feels excited for what is ahead while also maintaining a rhythm of reflection.

“I would say I am most excited about being able to have our same team continuing next year so we can build on the momentum that we started on this year,” Boone said. “And hopefully with some consistency, be able to better support students and staff.”