Being a high school principal can be a very interesting job, but not many people know what a principal truly does, so I was on a mission to find out. I had the opportunity to shadow our principal, Mr. Trimberger for a day to find out what it is he does during the day.

I walked into the office at 7:00 A.M. to hear him and Associate Principal Kevin Formolo and guidance counselor Steve Schneider talking about Career Cruising (which I later came to find out occurs quite often).  Shortly after those discussions, we went to a PST (Problem Solving Team) meeting. This is a group of teachers, counselors, administrators and support staff that meet weekly to discuss some of the kids who are struggling, and ways that this team can support them with their learning. The second goal of this team is to create programs to help all students be successful. This group talks about things like resources rooms and advisory study hall to ensure the students can learn the material and be successful in future lessons. The coolest part was seeing him walking through the halls and how the students responded to him. He was able to carry on a small conversation with each student we came across. The students, no matter what, walked away from their conversation with him feeling good. He enjoys being around these kids–spending time with them and having the chance to speak with these students. “The most rewarding part of my job is working with students. This is especially true when I see our students make personal gains,” Trimberger stated. Later on in the day, the Sheboygan Area School District Superintendent, Dr. Joe Sheehan, stopped by to bring gifts in for the retiring teachers. As we were making the trips around, before giving the gifts to the teachers, Sheehan asked each teacher to tell a rewarding or fun teaching story that they experienced. Hearing these stories were both fun and interesting. The last thing part of the morning was spent in his office, when Mr. Trimberger and I had time to just talk. In that time, I learned more about him than any other time during the day. “I know there are individuals that think I am crazy when I say that we are working to be the best school in the universe but that is my goal. We have SO many great things happening at South I feel we can sure get there,” Trimberger told me. The thing that was most noticeable was the pride he has in South High School, and how he will never be satisfied with what is going on. He will never stop working to make South High School a better place. He truly loves his job and that was obvious on several occasions and he cares about each and every one of his students. Having the opportunity to shadow our principal, Mr. Trimberger really showed me how great of a man and leader he is and under his guidance there will be nothing but good things happening in the near future at South High School.