Being the new “kid” is never easy, especially when you are a new assistant principal at a 6A high school.

At the start of the 2017 school year, Vandegrift was introduced to two new assistant principals, Amanda Wilson and Wendy Sturdevant. Some students had an AP change this year because of the new faculty members and have yet to get a chance to meet their new assistant principal.

“I really enjoy being at campus events,” Wilson said. “Another thing I love is seeing all of the students do things that they are passionate about.”

This year, ACC classes and some regular VHS schedule classes are in the annex which is a section of Four Points Middle School that is reserved for students at Vandegrift.

“I started at VHS in early July getting ready for the new school year with the administrative team,”Sturdevant said. “We had a lot to get prepared due to the growth at VHS and so we had to get the annex and new portables in. Our goal was to make sure we were organized to start the school year.”

One of the new assistant principals, Wilson, had previously been a staff member at Vandegrift in the past.

“I worked at VHS for three years as a teacher and cheer coach,” Wilson said. “I left last year to help open Glenn High School. I love the Vandegrift community and students so when an opportunity came up for me to come back, it was an easy decision. It felt like coming back home!”

While assistant principals may be intimidating, they are at school to help the students and guide them through the year successfully.

“A lot of people assume that all AP’s do is get students in trouble which is our least favorite part of the job when students make poor decisions,” Sturdevant said. “The cool parts are supporting students with the positive things such as National Merit recognitions or being on the sidelines for athletics and extracurricular events.”

Unlike teachers, the assistant principals do not get to the chance to have name games to learn students names so memorizing faces can be quite difficult.

“My first goal is to get to know the teachers and students which I think will be a challenge just due to the sheer size of VHS,” Sturdevant said. “I know we’ve got a really kind and helpful faculty and staff and all the Vipers have already been so welcoming so it’s already going great!”