Assistant Principal for a Day

            There was once a time in which I was the Assistant Principal for the day. It all happened back in preschool. At an early age I learned to make friends easily, one of my “friends” happened to be Brian Sloan. He was the Assistant Principal of the intermediate school, or what is now known as Hawthorne. We were best buds and (from what my parents have told me) he took a liking to me. It was about second quarter when he proposed to my parents the idea of having me come into school early on a Tuesday, and be with him in his office. I remember my parents asking me if I would be interested and of course I said “yes”.

            About two weeks later I remember waking up extra early and getting dressed up. One of the rules of me being the Assistant Principal was that I had to dress up exactly like Mr. Sloan did. That meant I had to have my hair spiked just like his. I had to wear a nice shirt and tie. That morning my mom picked out for me a nice blue short-sleeve shirt and a red tie. I wore jeans because I didn’t own any slacks or khaki pants. It was the first time I ever remember dressing for success.
            Around 8:30 in the morning my mother drove me to the school. I had never been to school that early since there were two preschools sessions per day. I had always been part of the afternoon session and so school at that hour of the morning had never crossed my mind. All the kids there seemed really big. In the afternoon I never had to worry about the older kids because they were never around. We walked to the office which at the time was located right in the center of the building. I remember waiting in the office for Mr. Sloan to get back from checking on a class. He had a huge smile on his face when he saw me dressed like him. I hugged my mother goodbye and proceeded to follow him into his office.
            The office was huge, at least from a little kid’s view it was. The office had blue walls and behind his desk was this giant bookshelf I remember that I was talk enough to have my arms on his desk, which to me was a huge accomplishment. Part of that morning I spent sitting and spinning in his big black chair, the other part of the morning I spent sitting around the small table in the corner of his office. I remember actually getting to see him talk to a kid while I was in there. He seemed really calm, the kid on the other hand seemed rather nervous. He talked to the kid while I sat in his chair and played with the toys I had brought along. Looking back now I’m quite shocked that he permitted me to stay in there while disciplining a kid. I’m really glad that he did though I remember that he showed the kid a lot of compassion, I don’t remember what the kid did to be in the office, but I do remember that he received no disciplinary action other than losing a single recess. I only spent the morning with him since I had class in the afternoon, but I remember sharing with all my friends about my experience that morning. I was the cool kid that day (not to mention the best dressed as well) everybody was asking me questions of what it was like to spend the morning with the Assistant Principal.
            To this day Mr. Sloan and I remain friends. He eventually moved onto selling used cars after my preschool year, and then recently returned to Kearney to become a principal. We had our picture taken by one of the secretaries and both of us have copies of it. Apparently he framed his picture and has it in his office. My mother placed my copy of the photo into my album. We still talk about those days, and as I said before still remain good friends. Every time I look at that picture I can’t help but laugh, I looked so ridiculous with my hair spiked up (it’s definitely not my style). I am very grateful that he had the idea of letting me spend the morning with him. That morning was only one of the few events in my life that would help shape me into becoming the person I am today. For this one event I am extremely grateful.