Being an elementary school principal takes a lot of heart and a passion for ensuring kids have a quality academic environment. New Hillcrest elementary principal Shannon Smith is eager to meet the community and students involved at Hillcrest as the 2022-23 school year approaches.
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Being an elementary school principal takes a lot of heart and a passion for ensuring kids have a quality academic environment. New Hillcrest elementary principal Shannon Smith is eager to meet the community and students involved at Hillcrest as the 2022-23 school year approaches.
Smith may be a familiar face to some in town. She was the assistant principal at Mickelson Middle School last year, and has high hopes for Hillcrest as principal after 19 years in education. “I grew up in Minnesota. I was the assistant director of special services up in Watertown, and then spent the last two years at the middle school as the assistant principal there, and now I’ve moved over to Hillcrest,” she said, mentioning that her family moved back to the area from Washington state. “I am married to my kindergarten sweetheart… We have two kids, my daughter is 13 and my son is 8.”
Many students declare what they’d like to be when they grow up, and Smith has known for a long time that being a principal was her dream. “You know, this is something that I’ve always wanted to do. I feel like I have been given this incredible Christmas gift that just keeps giving, because this is something I’ve wanted to do forever. It’s been kind of my dream and passion, and so I’m getting to live out those dreams that you… write in your papers of what you want to do when you grow up. I’m getting to see that actually come to fruition, which is pretty awesome.” She hopes those dreams help forge valuable connections at Hillcrest. “I have a passion for building relationships with families and students, and take great pride in being just a small part of their educational journey.”
Smith’s goals as a principal come back to the community and staff. One of her goals is “to build relationships with the students, families and community first, because I believe Hillcrest is a community school and its vitality is important for the neighborhood around it and those who are in it.”
She also recognizes that much of Hillcrest’s success comes down to quality staff as well. “Another goal for me is to work with staff to really make this be an educational destination for families that really want to be here and to take the things that are already going really well at Hillcrest elementary and bring that to the next level academically.”
Like many passionate principals, Smith’s joy in the work comes down to the students. Laughing and reminiscing on crazy stories kids have told her, she said, “You can’t do this job if you don’t love kids, and I love kids.” Smith feels that, even at 40, interacting with students helps keep her young and learn to not sweat the small stuff. “I love listening to their stories about their favorite rocks, or their favorite thing that they did with their family at home, or their challenges that they have and get them to see that it’s just a small blip on the radar, and we can work together to get to the other side of whatever it is. But my passion is students and seeing them grow to their fullest potential.”