By: Saksham Tiwari

With this brand new school year, there are new faces and new beginnings for everyone, all around. Even a new principal! Most of us have seen Mr. Hines around, and some have even met Mr. Hines. His charm and kindness towards all does not go unnoticed. 

 

A few weeks ago, our principal was generous enough to carve time out of his demanding schedule to share his words of wisdom with the Conard community. The graduating students as well as the teachers were blessed with his kind words. 

 

Mr. Hines excitement for this school year is evident as he is excited for the new year and the tone of the building. In my interview with Hines, he stated: "Students are seemingly happy to be here, and I haven’t heard a single disparaging comment about the school." Hines' positive outlook for the start of this year is clear, and he even further mentioned how in meetings the guidelines established have "proven to be motivating." In addition, he expressed the idea that it is said that you really start to understand how the school year will be based on the environment for the first four weeks. Thankfully, he conveyed that "everything looks great" as we are now past this four-week mark. 

 

When asked what he would like to say to the teachers, Principal Hines was very confident that the teachers and staff know how he feels when he conveyed that they have been supportive and want to continue to build a positive environment for not only their colleagues but students as well. Not only was he appreciative of this from his colleagues, but he conveyed how everything is a joint effort and he is super grateful for all their efforts at keeping Conard a positive and safe environment. 

 

I then asked what his message would be to the freshmen and the graduating class, the two groups experiencing a major change in their high school life. He stated, "I have already talked to the freshmen. And again, I would only like to encourage them to take advantage of being at Conard. These four years will pass in the blink of an eye, so make the best use of it." Thus, it is important to get involved as soon as possible, like by joining clubs, sports, etc. His message to the seniors: "... I am very thankful. I hope that they are able to achieve their goals in life and portray the Conard community as worth their weight in gold. Make us proud!" The graduating class will be missed, but Conard will still be a positive environment thanks to the teachers, staff, and students. 

 

Finally, I asked Principal Hines a few crucial questions: what was his Rose (the thing he is extremely happy about), Bud (the thing he is excited about), and Thorn (something he may not be so happy about). "I am really glad to see the collaboration among the students and their commitment to our school. As I said earlier, so far, things have been great! And hopefully, they will remain the same. I am not the kind of person who would focus on the negatives. Instead, I prefer looking at the brighter side of things. So, I have no complaints regarding anything. I only expect to see much better things in the future. Our students are responsible, compassionate, and dedicated; our teachers are caring, trustworthy, and level-headed. And together, I am sure that we can turn out to be the best version of ourselves and our community." 

 

I would like to thank Mr. Hines for spending some time in this interview to share his kind words of wisdom and also, in general, for being so supportive, interactive, and approachable to everyone. We are indeed fortunate to have a leader like him, guiding our Conard community every step of the way.