Amy Hammock, the newest principal at McIntosh High School, has 26 years of experience in schools and the classroom. Having been a student at McIntosh, having graduated in 1992, she’s seen it grow and develop into the school it is now.
Her goals for the upcoming school year that follow along with her theme of the year – to “make excellence a habit.”
“My goal is not to come in and just change everything, because that discounts what we’ve done previously,” Hammock said.
Senior Taegen Reiter, a student at McIntosh since the 2021-2022 school year, says that she’s glad to see Amy Hammock as the principal.
“It was a smooth transition from Maggie Walls to Amy Hammock, and I don’t think any of [Hammock’s] policies are outlandish. I like her,” Reiter said.
One of Hammock’s concerns for the year is making sure efforts to make an impact this year are being used wisely.
“[We need to] ask the right questions, how are we making improvements here? And then at the end of the year, we’ll see that we have made great gains in what we have planned to do,” she said.
One of her specific focuses is on “[working] with teachers– really, work on some of our [student] groups. We have a lot more of our ESOL population who are needing a little bit more support. We have students who are enrolling all the time from different countries. What do they need from us? We’re a school that wants to provide for them.”
Hammock had some concerns about transitioning to this new role.
“I was worried about transitioning from the assistant principal role to the principal role, because I’d been an assistant principal for eight years, and so how would people receive me? Would they take me seriously? Students might see me one way,” Hammock said.
“I’ve advanced my degrees, I’ve got a Specialist’s in Educational Leadership. And, just being involved and being surrounded by other great leaders and adults who just encourage and support me, and a supportive student body– it gives me the confidence to go ‘Oh, I can do this.’”
As far as her message to students this year, she wants to focus on opportunities for them, both academically and socially.
“I just want to make sure that [they] keep doors open, you know, we don’t ever want to close anything off, because you just don’t know where [students are] going to want to go.”
Hammock encourages students to get involved.
“You just really make connections with people who you’re in extracurriculars with, and I think that’s very important to find a sense of belonging through the groups that you hang out with,” Hammock said.
