Johnson Assistant Principal William Wallace struggled to sum up the impact his new Principal William Hahn has had on the Johnson community. However, inspiration eventually struck.
“He is like the Energizer Bunny,” said Wallace.
Despite the fact that this quote was facetiously followed up with a “do not print that,” his comparison accurately captured the energy that Mr. Hahn has brought to the middle school.
Hired in July of 2010, Mr. Hahn was originally the Assistant Principal of Walpole High School for four years. Although it is hard to make the transition between a middle school and a high school, Mr. Hahn as handled the transition smoothly. During his first year at JMS, Mr. Hahn has implemented multiple changes to make the school a better and more positive community.
“Visibility makes a big difference to the students. Whenever Mr. Hahn has down time, he is always down at lunch duty helping out and interacting with the students,” said Mr. Wallace.
In addition to lunch duty, Mr. Hahn greets the students at the door when they enter in the morning, and he is on the daily news. In a shirt and tie, he even played basketball during their recent 3-on-3 tournament on May 11th.
To increase the positivity within the hallways, Mr. Hahn created “The Shout Out Wall” which allows students to write shout outs to their peers and post them on a wall at the front of the building for everyone to see where they can celebrate each other.
He also has started leadership training with the eighth graders and further incorporated the school’s core values within the building.
“He has created a very energetic atmosphere that enables students to feel secure when they walk in the door,” said gym teacher David Wall.
¨Mr. Hahn makes school fun. It is very important for students to have relationships with their teachers, and Mr. Hahn does a nice job of making us all feel comfortable in the building,” said eighth grader Conor Foley.
Not only has he positively impacted the students, but he has also impacted the teachers.
Rather than the previous one or two teacher observations, Mr. Hahn and Assistant Principal Wallace now do five teacher observations which not only enables the teachers and students to feel more comfortable, but it allows administration to create better individual relationships with the students and faculty.
“Mr. Hahn encourages us teachers to want to work hard. He is awesome and brings lots of excitement to the school,” said technology teacher Mrs. Annemarie Wyman.
Most significantly, Mr. Hahn is visible at every event.
The “Energizer Bunny” has improved both the student body and the faculty at Johnson Middle School.
Despite the fact that Mr. Hahn is not the mascot of the Energizer Battery company, he, keeps going and going and going as he finishes up his first year as principal at Johnson Middle School.
