Today’s post is written by new assistant principal, Mr. Brian Sackett:

Holey Moley—it seems like everything is new for Howard High School this year!  A new way for families to connect with teachers through Canvas, new student systems with Synergy, the brand new HCPSS Connect and Family File, and the new College and Career Ready standards being implemented like never before!  And, to top it all off, Howard High has three brand new administrators to the building:  Principal Mr. Novak, Assistant Principal Mr. Castro, and me, Assistant Principal Mr. Sackett.  Sometimes all of this “newness” can seem overwhelming and intimidating, so please allow me to become a bit more familiar to you by providing a brief bio:

• I originally hail from New York and fell in love with Maryland and Howard County specifically through my college experiences at Towson University. At Towson I majored in Secondary English Education (after dabbling in Secondary Mathematics for awhile) and had the opportunity to student teach at both Wilde Lake High School and Harper’s Choice Middle School.
• After college I accepted a position at Atholton High School where I taught English for the last seven years. I was very fortunate to get to work with students from a wide variety of backgrounds, including many foreign exchange students from the likes of such countries as Indonesia and Germany (in fact, I now speak some Indonesian thanks to some of my former students!).  I co-taught Special Education classes, worked with our GT/AP students teaching advanced writing electives, and spent the vast majority of my working day with our Honors and On-Grade level juniors and seniors.  I was also AHS’ It’s Academic Coach for the past six years.
• While at Atholton I pursued my Master’s Degree in Educational Administration through McDaniel College. I completed my coursework, did my internship, and was certified by the State of Maryland as a School Administrator.  The timing ended up being quite convenient, since Atholton had an administrative shake-up towards the middle of last year and I was asked to step in as a Substitute Administrator for the final 1/3 of the year.  In this role, I had a wonderful opportunity to work with all students in the school, as well as collaboratively with staff and parents.
• At the conclusion of last school year I was asked to become the newest Assistant Principal at Howard High School, and, to be honest, I couldn’t be more excited to be here. I know the stellar reputation that HoHS has within the community, county, and state, both for our high performing academic programs, as well as our championship-winning sports teams and extracurricular clubs.  However, this particular school does come with a lot of personal pressure for me: my mother-in-law is a Howard High alum, so I better bring my best!  If not, my supply of homemade shortbread cookies may be in jeopardy…
• Outside of school I love to kick back and relax, usually by doing one of my four favorite activities: playing rock and roll piano (maybe you’ve seen me in a pit band for some of our HCPSS high school shows?), reading a mystery/thriller novel, watching the Yankees and Orioles duke it out, or hanging out with my wife and our rather mischievous cat. I also have gotten into Twitter in a big way.  You can follow me if you’re so inclined @MrSackettHCPSS.  I do my best to tweet about things going on at the school and LT (that’s “live tweet” for those not in the Twitterverse) events as they happen!  Occasionally I’ll run into something bizarre or quirky outside of the school, and if it’s worth sharing, I’ll tweet about that too!

Perhaps it’s not the most professional and articulate way of communicating the thought, but I am “super pumped” to be a Howard Lion and to have the opportunity to work with such an incredible staff to support some of the best students and families Howard County has to offer.  This year I will be working primarily with our incoming 9^th graders, and the class of 2019 and I sure have a lot in common: we’re both new to the school, we both want to do our best and succeed, we both can’t wait to learn about all the things that make Howard High great, and we’re not afraid of rolling up our sleeves and working hard to make sure that we achieve success.

As the year goes on, please feel free to contact me with any questions, suggestions, or ideas.  It’s a wonderful feeling coming into such a great school and I look forwards to bringing my enthusiasm and love of working with students to 8700 Old Annapolis Road every day.  Go Lions!