NAPPANEE — NorthWood High School Principal David Maugel was recently named Indiana Association of School Principals' Principal of the Year for District 2. District 2 comprises the counties of Elkhart, Fulton, Kosciusko, LaPorte, Marshall, Pulaski, St. Joseph and Starke.
This award comes from one’s peers, according to IASP, and will be awarded at a banquet Sunday in Indianapolis. There are 12 districts in the state and from the principals awarded in each district, one will be chosen as the 2016 State High School Principal of the Year, which will also be presented that night.
Maugel said he is pretty involved in District 2 and is on the executive board, so he was aware that his name was among those being considered.
“Those conversations were happening in front of me, which was a little weird,” Maugel admitted, but said he stepped out when the actual votes were taking place.
“District 2 is made up of some outstanding people and outstanding high school principals, so to be nominated by such a great group was kind of cool and a great honor,” he said.
Maugel said he is planning on attending the banquet on Sunday, which also serves as the kickoff for the IASP fall conference. When asked what it would mean to him if he were to be named the State Principal of the Year, he said it would be humbling.
“If that were to happen it wouldn’t be recognition of just one individual but of the great staff I am blessed to work with everyday and of the community,” he said. “We have a great team of educators here, all of whom are working to live up to that expectation of excellence Wa-Nee has.”
When asked about the other state recognition NorthWood has received so far this year, including the Spell Bowl, other academic teams, the band and now the football team on its way, he said, “It’s pretty amazing. There are so many great things occurring here and that’s due to great people giving their best to each other and striving for excellence.”