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Eckville Jr/Sr High School’s long-time principal retiring

“I’m basically Peter Pan, I’ve been in high school my entire adult life,” says Principal Brian Holland
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Brian Holland (centre) is retiring from his position as principal at Eckville Junior/Senior High School at the end of the school year. File Photo.

Eckville Junior/Senior High School’s long-time principal is set to retire at the end of the school year.

Brian Holland has been at the school for about 30 years and says the retirement is becoming more real with each passing day.

“When I started at this school the Berlin Wall was still up and Russia was still the bad guys and Nelson Mandela was still being bars,” said Holland in a phone interview. “Many things have changed globally, but at the end of the day kids are still kids.”

He explained the nature of the way schooling is being delivered through distance learning is making the days go by quickly.

Finishing off his career in a building without students in the building is not what he anticipated and he is missing the energy one gets from being around young people.

“I started high school myself in the fall of 1980, I’m basically Peter Pan, I’ve been in high school my entire adult life,” Holland said. “I get to see the energy of 13 to 17-year-olds and it keeps a person young.”

“Living in this reality, you don’t get that same day-to-day, face-to-face interaction with the kids,” added Holland.

Despite his final year not ending with students in the building as expected, he says, it’s a “first world problem” in the grand scheme of things as people are dealing with much more consequential issues.

As the end of the draws closer to an end with each passing day Holland wants to share the message of thanks with his students.

“It’s been my pleasure to have had the opportunity to work with you and learn with you and from you and beside you,” commented Holland.

“I feel a little guilty because every Sunday night when we’re looking forward to the next week I was one of those rare people who had a job where I looked forward to each and every day,” he continued, “and I’m not sure how many people can say that about the job they’ve had or the work they’ve done.”

Starting with the 2020/21 school year in September, the torch will be passed to Kory Reimer, who will be stepping into the principal role at Eckville Junior/Senior High School.

Reimer has spent the past four years serving as assistant principal at Eckville Elementary School.

“I am very excited to become the new principal of Eckville Junior/Senior High School, and am very eager to work with a great staff there who truly care about the kids in their classroom,” Reimer says in a Wold Creek Public Schools press release.

“I am also looking forward to reconnecting with many of the students in EJSHS, who were former students of mine at Eckville Elementary,” he added.