ASPEN — As the 2016/17 school year commences, students may see the familiar face of Sarah Strassburger around the halls. However, instead of seeing her in her old English classroom, students can find the front office where she nows serves as AHS’s Assistant Principal. After Grant Safranek left the position shortly into the summer, Strassburger was selected to take over the position for the upcoming school year. 

Safranek did not share specifics reasons for leaving, but given the sudden notice, AHS Principal Tharyn Mulberry had to fill the position in a short amount of time. This time, decided to pick the new Assistant Principal from the internal candidates only.

“If we had the same thing happen again [with an external candidate], we would be starting the year without an Assistant Principal,” Mulberry said. “We had a great pool of internal candidates from the first round of interviews, so we felt comfortable only opening the position to them.”

Mulberry also added that Strassburger, with eleven years of experience and knowledge of the inner workings of the school was the ideal candidate.

Although Strassburger was not able to start at her new position until mid-summer, she did not feel like this put her at a disadvantage going into the school year. She felt like knowing the student body and staff was a big advantage because she was familiar with the school climate.  

“ I think I understand the complexities of both students and staff and the life here. I know you guys are busy, and have a lot going on, and I think I understand that, and the community, and just what Aspen’s all about,” Strassburger said.

Although Strassburger is thrilled to have gotten the position, she says that she will miss being in the classroom and interacting with the students in that way. However, she will be taking over one period of IB English in the spring while Christin Kay is on maternity leave. She will lead class through the Internal Assessments and exam preparation. Although Strassburger misses the classroom, she feels as if the transition has been fairly easy.

“What inspires adults in this profession are students, and getting students insights about the world, or for me students insights about literature in the world, and I want to figure out how I can still foster those relationships with kids with not being in the classroom on a regular basis,” Strassburger said.

So far, Strassburger has been well received and welcomed in her new position by the AHS community. Many students are excited about the prospect of having a former teacher fill the role of Assistant Principal because of Strassburger’s insights into the views of the students and staff.

“I am really really excited about Sarah being Vice Principal, because I had her last year and got a first hand look at how much she cares about her students how much she cares about the school, and how much she really cares about how we feel and the issues that we’re having,” senior Jordana Rothberg said. “I know that she’s going to be someone who’s not only open to listening to changes concerns, but working as hard as she can to solve them, and that’s what we need for this year.”