Last week Greg Schellenberg joined the Eastlake High School staff as the new principal. After five years at Gig Harbor High School, where he was an assistant principal and principal, Schellenberg is ready to help Eastlake move forward and higher.
Of the many difficult aspects of high school, Schellenberg said he felt that because students have so many options to choose from, it is easy to get over involved.
“There’s so much to get involved with that many students can get over involved, whether that’s a move to fill up their college application or that’s generally where they are at. It’s tough to watch kids burn out when they are 16 or 17. On the flip side, I think, one of the things that kids here have is that they can be anything they want to be, do anything they want to do. For some kids it’s ‘I don’t know what I want to do’ and they could benefit from an exploratory program and be introduced to different things to do.” He added, for those students, sometimes a helping hand while they are “searching for relevance and what they want to do” could be helpful.
Schellenberg, who replaces long time principal Rondel Hardie, said that while the social aspect of high school has always presented challenges, these days it’s different than it used to be.
“All the social things too. It’s different then my high school experience, for parents and teachers, it’s just different. The social pressures, that hasn’t changed, but the look of it has changed. The social networking, the choices kids make. That’s a tough thing.”
Schellenberg spent five years in the Gig Harbor High School administration and has also taught overseas. During his teaching years he was primarily a middle school math teacher.
In the year prior to moving back to the Pacific Northwest, Schellenberg taught at an oil company school in “remote Saudi Arabia”. The school consisted of 86 students of various nationalities, but none were Saudi, he said. It was 2004 and after Schellenberg and his wife discovered they were having twins, they decided it was time to come home.
“It was a tough time to be there and we said ‘we need to go home’,” he said.
Despite teaching at private schools and those much smaller than Eastlake, a more traditional high school has a draw for Schellenberg the others did not.
“I’ve just become a fan of the comprehensive high school,” he said. “I love the programs and watching kids tap into what their career interests are, where they are going to go to school and just that excitement as they get close to graduation about what is next. It’s an exciting and practical thing we do for them. Just watching kids do their best is what motivates me.”
In the next several years public education in Washington is likely to change, certainly following groundbreaking new laws which passed this spring’s legislative session. On the whole Schellenberg thinks being prepared for whatever the future holds is the best way to advance.
“One of the draws to this district was it seemed they have a real strong vision of, not necessarily what the future is for education, but the fact that we need to be ready for adapting to what the future is. I think the toughest thing is reevaluating what we’re doing and looking to intentionally change aspects of it without changing the whole animal,” said Schellenberg.
While the start of the new school year is a solid month away Schellenberg was ready with advice for returning and incoming students.
“I always like to talk to kids and parents about involvement, I think that’s a huge thing,” he said. “Eastlake does some pretty unique things to get kids known and personalized in the school and through that maybe they’ll get the connection. All the research shows the kids who are more involved are more successful because they have something to motivate them to be successful.” He also said he looks forward to working directly with students and hearing what they have to say about the school.
“We’re in the business of people,” he said. “It’s the people that make it remarkable.”
