How well do you know your principal? October is National Principals month, so we decided to get to know our principal a little better. We asked Mr. Overlin a few questions to share. 

What led to Mr. Overlin’s teaching career? Did you know he took a class called tutoring his senior year of high school? This class is like our teacher cadet class, and in the first semester they would learn and do quizzes, and then in the second semester they would go out into different schools. Overlin went to an elementary school during this class and tutored a boy and really liked it. This was his first experience educating/being a teacher.

For the first part of his career was not an educator; he was a naval officer then returned to education in his mid-30s. He was a high school science teacher then became an administrator about 15 years ago and has been a middle school and high school assistant principal and principal since then. 

We asked Mr. Overlin what his favorite part of his job was, and he said it is the variety. None of his days are the same as the day before. Every day brings something new, and it is hard to predict how his day is going to go because he always gets surprises, sometimes they are wonderful surprises and sometimes they are tough. But he really enjoys the part of being a principal. Mr. Overlin said that his least favorite part of being a principal is the paperwork because it pulls him away from being with students and teachers, which is what he really likes about his job: being around people.

Mr. Overlin starts his day by getting up around 5 AM and for the first hour of his day he likes to spend time by himself, like on his laptop, watching the news, and drinking some coffee. Then he gets to school around seven, gets the announcements ready and then he goes out and does bus duty. During the day he’s doing lots of stuff like seeing teachers, dealing with discipline issues, writing recommendation letters, doing breakfast and lunch supervisions, and so much more. Mr. Overlin says he likes being in the lunchroom. It’s especially important to him because that’s where he can have conversations with the kids.

Something about Overlin that most students do not know is that he used to play football and rugby in college for two years. Another thing you might not know about Overlin is that he has been in the arctic circle while he was in the navy.

Remember that October is the time to celebrate those that do so much for our school. So, if you see Mr. Overlin or Mrs. White in the halls don’t forget to say thank you and Happy Principal’s month.