Since school has started up, principal Anthony CK was welcomed by his new school. CK gave his insight on his experience at Bryan so far.
“The students are super welcoming, and very kind and they want me to be present at events and get to know me. It’s been great.” Said CK.
Bear country getting a new principal also means new traditions. Many students have seen the staff and faculty of the week posts on the Bryan High Instagram @ops_bryanhigh.
“I wanted to make sure staff are getting recognized weekly, systematically recognizing both a teacher and someone who is what we call a classified staff member,” CK said.
CK is openly passionate about making staff, faculty and students feel welcomed and safe. He’s expressed in morning announcements some of the school’s sports teams, clubs, activities and even specific students’ accomplishments and how proud he is of them.
“I want everybody to feel like I appreciate them, that they’re loved and that they belong,” CK said. “We’re a tight close community.”
That feeling of being appreciated by their principal can help students, staff and faculty enjoy coming to the building and staying motivated to do great things. He’s been seen attending marching band competitions supporting our school’s marching band. CK was often seen attending football games and many club practices.
He is known for not taking everything so seriously. Sprayed with silly string at the homecoming game, CK was seen with a smile on his face and laughing with the cheer team about their silly attack.
As seen before, CK had started a weekly tradition of having staff and students get involved and nominating staff and faculty to win the title of staff or teacher of the week. The awardees get to wear, show off and hold on to the belt which lets people know they were the winners. The belt is a few of the previous winners’ favorite parts of receiving the title.
“It was fun to wear around because people would let you know you did a good job,” said resource teacher Rachel Allen.
Allen was awarded “teacher of the week” in the first month of this new tradition starting.
Another winner of the belt was head security guard Lee Jones. He is a staff member cherished by many students here at Bryan High. Lee believes students gravitate towards him because of his positivity.
“Communicating. Communicating with them, sitting down and listening to their problems and issues,” Lee said.
Security guards around the area take their school safety in a serious manner. Jones and the rest of the security members at Bryan are essential to our school.
“Security is one of the main things we thrive on. And I’m not sure how many people know this, but Bryan is one of the safest schools around,” Lee said.
A more recent winner was first year physical science teacher Alexander Eisenhauer. It can be hard for teachers to form these connections with kids. Especially in their earlier years teaching. Eisenhauer shares his experiences with this conflict,
“I really try to be there for them and form those bonds when I can,” Eisenhauer said.
As the school year continues, let’s see who will claim the belt next.
