This year, there have been many new additions to the Elmira High School staff. One of those additions is Ricci Huling, the new assistant principal.
As an assistant principal, Mrs. Huling gets a little bit more freedom in what she does day to day. Some days, she’s working with students or spending the day in classrooms. Other days, she’s doing paperwork and sometimes helping teachers.
Before becoming a Falcon, Mrs. Huling worked at Agnes Stewart Middle School in Springfield. She was a seventh-grade math teacher and a sixth- through eighth-grade consumer studies teacher.
Mrs. Huling said she is enjoying her new position at EHS. She said the biggest change from a teacher to an administrator is that she gets to focus on helping particular students. She also gets to spend more time helping create a schoolwide system from which all students and staff can benefit.
She said she hopes to be a strong support for students on their way to graduation and to ensure that every student feels welcome.
She recognizes the added challenges that the past two years have had on students’ schooling.
“Our students are living through something that has not been experienced in our country for over a century,” she said. “They are actively experiencing trauma as they try to navigate an already demanding part of life. I hope that we are mindful of the challenges our students are facing and strive to find creative ways that ingrain the importance of their education on their future.”
Outside of school, Mrs. Huling loves spending time outdoors and with her friends and family. She also enjoys cooking and watching sports as well as just taking time to relax. Mrs. Huling jokes that she wasn’t expecting how tired she would be after taking her new position.
Mrs. Huling said her biggest motivations are to be compassionate and kind, and to work for positive change. She added that she has felt the most challenged and rewarded when helping others. She enjoys bearing witness to the stage of students’ lives when they figure out who they are and who they want to be.
She said she believes high school is one of the most exciting and testing parts of developing into a young adult, and she’s glad she gets to be there to help along the way.
