By Leaana Khan and Kevin Barry

Co-Editors-in-Chief

With the start of this school year, Hammond welcomed its new assistant principal, Mr. Frank White. So far in his time at Hammond, Mr. White has become an integral part of the community. In regards to how he feels about it, Mr. White says “I love the community here so far, it’s been very welcoming, and the students here are awesome.” When asked how the environment is different from previous experiences, he said “I think each community is different. I just love the welcomeness here at Hammond so far”.

In college, Mr. White did his undergraduate degree in elementary education and his graduate in school counseling at the University of Maryland, College Park. When asked about why he wanted to stay in Maryland for work, he said “Money, I got a job. When I graduated I got a contract and… my goal is to jump on it. When you get that first contract, you’re like ‘alright, it’s money.’” Having worked in three different school systems, he has an extensive background in the field of education. He started out in Prince George’s County where he worked for six years, then Baltimore City for one year, and now he’s in his ninth year in Howard County.

Mr. White’s background in counseling helped prepare him for his role as an administrator. He says it has let him “be able to connect with people, looking at people for where they’re at right now and being able to touch into the emotion of whatever space they’re at, being able to see, because sometimes people will have a conversation without being able to see you.”

Mr. White has had a variety of hobbies; in high school, he was in the band. He played different kinds of drums throughout his sophomore, junior, and senior years after quitting the violin from elementary and middle school. He dropped the violin because he didn’t want to practice at home. He said, “the drums came a little more naturally, I can bang on something.” Regarding his favorite dance move, one that he could potentially break out at weddings or parties, he responded with “the running man, I’ll do a mean running man if I need to, which might transition into a cabbage patch.” In his fantasy football lineup, Mr. White said, “I’m not gonna say my fantasy football team is the greatest right now, I think I’m in 6th or 7th place, so I’m borderline making playoffs right now. I started off with Tom Brady; that was a bust, so I had to switch HP to Geno Smith and so far we’ve had success with him and Josh Jacobs.” He says he probably doesn’t have a good chance of making varsity next year. “It’s my first year though, so it’s all good”.

Most importantly, Mr. White says his goal he hopes to achieve at Hammond is “making sure students are successful; whatever that means. What I mean by that is being sure your well-being is taken care of, making sure that you’re succeeding academically. Being able to connect with the students here, that’s another goal of mine. I would love to know every kid on a first name basis… that’s my goal and I will achieve it.” He states that his last goal is to sit back and understand the community of Hammond.