By Abigail Miller, Sophomore
Mr. Davis never set out to be a principal, but he made it his goal to be the best one he could be while he worked at Nazareth High School. He did his best to bond with his students over 17 years in this position and has enjoyed almost every minute of it. With his move to becoming the director of secondary teaching and learning, he’ll be working closely with teachers to plan out the curriculums of different subjects across middle and high school.
After teaching at Emmaus High School (I know, awful, right?) for two years he started shadowing their vice principal to earn his master's degree. The current principal, unfortunately, fell ill and had to go on medical leave from November to the end of the school year. That meant that the assistant principal had to move up and fill his role as principal. Knowing that Mr. Davis was starting his internship, they reached out and offered him the position of acting assistant principal and hired a substitute teacher for his class.
With all the hours he needed, Mr. Davis left for the summer thinking he had the best internship experience for the teaching job he thought he would be returning to in the fall. Little did he know that while he and his family were on vacation he would come home to a voicemail on his answering machine telling him that the vice principal was moving up and they would like him to come back the next school year as the official vice principal.
He went on to be the assistant principal at Emmaus for another year before applying to the vice principal at Nazareth. As you might have guessed, he got the job. He was vice principal here at Nazareth for 3 years before becoming principal for another 17.
Everything just happened to fall into place at just the right time. Especially considering that when asked what his dream job would have been, he said he would have loved to work for either the Phillies or the Eagles. In a way, he still got what he wanted, even if our mascot is the Blue Eagle.
As Principal of the Blue Eagles, he did his best to connect and get to know his students. He attended as many games as he could in his time here, not wanting to be the typical old principal locked away in his office. He wanted to see his students’ accomplishments “whether it's academic success, or athletics, or the music department, or theater, you know, just seeing students in a different light…. Not just in the hallway or in the classroom… but seeing them participate, succeed, perform… is always exciting to me.”
As the director of secondary teaching and learning, Mr. Davis will be overseeing the education of the students in the high school as well as the middle school. He will be focusing on bigger-picture items like curriculum and general education rather than the day-to-day nuances of just the high school.
He is looking forward to the change of pace, hopefully, something slower. He believes that “change is good for the person and the organization” and thinks it’s “time for someone with a different perspective” to come in and shake things up at the high school. That's where Mr. Breidinger comes in.
Sometime between now and January Mr. Breidinger will leave Easton High School, where he's worked for 18 years, and step into the new role as principal. This will be a taxing job, but Mr. Davis has full confidence that he can handle it. Working less than 10 miles away, Mr. Breidinger can use the different environments of Easton to his advantage working at Nazareth.
Don't worry seniors, your principal of 3.5 years will still be able to send you off at graduation. Mr. Davis and Mr. Breidinger will be doing a joint graduation ceremony to welcome Mr. Breidinger and say farewell to Mr. Davis. This will be a great way to end the 17-year-long chapter at Nazareth and start drafting a new one.