Related Departments
Related Topics
Related Articles
Education News
This article is from the EMU News Archive. Current EMU new is available at www.emu.edu/news
City's Youngest, Newest Principal
By Heather Bowser, Daily News-Record
When it comes to major life events, Sandy Thorpe tends to double up.
In 1975, she began life as a double — well, an identical twin, anyway.
Two decades later, Thorpe became an elementary school teacher only weeks before she married her high school sweetheart, Brad.
A few years ago, she gave birth to her first child, Nicolas, during the same semester that she became assistant principal at Stone Spring Elementary School.
Now, as Thorpe becomes Harrisonburg’s newest and youngest principal, the 31-year-old will once again "double it up."
Two weeks after starting the school year, Thorpe is scheduled to give birth to her second child, Haley.
"Heaven knows what would happen to me if I ever had twins," joked Thorpe. "I would probably end up as the superintendent or something."
From Baby Sister To Boss
Other than her role as "boss" to 3-year-old Nicolas, Thorpe says the boss title is a relatively new one.
As the youngest of four children (youngest by six minutes, that is) Thorpe grew up as the baby of the family.
"I was never the boss of anything," she said. "I never, ever thought I would be something like a principal."
After graduating from Eastern Mennonite University in 1998, Thorpe became a special education teacher at Dixon Elementary School in Staunton.
But her stay didn’t last long.
Soon after arriving, Thorpe began performing administrative responsibilities for Dixon’s principal because he lacked an assistant principal.
The tasks suited her.
"Basically, I liked being in charge," she admits with a smile. "I never had that feeling a lot growing up because, you know, I was the baby."
Set on the idea of "being in charge," Thorpe pursued a Master’s degree in administration and supervision at the University of Virginia. During the yearlong program, she served as an intern assistant principal at Peak View Elementary School in Rockingham County.
"I was so young I thought it would be a long while before I could expect any administrative positions," Thorpe said.
As luck would have it, she was wrong.
A few weeks after the end of Thorpe’s internship with the county, an assistant principal position at Stone Spring opened. Then, in June, longtime principal Bruce Hamilton retired, leaving a convenient vacancy right down the hall.
"Its been one of those ‘in the right place at the right time’ kind of situations," Thorpe said.
Young Boss, Old Teachers
This month, Thorpe assumed the school’s top post, overseeing a team of highly experienced teachers, some of whom have worked longer than she’s been alive.
"When Mrs. Thorpe first came, a few of us old timers thought, ‘Oh gosh, look at this young kid,’ she doesn’t have too much experience and now she’s going to be our boss,’" recalled fifth-grade teacher Joan Neff, who has taught for 33 years.
But their perceptions changed quickly.
Last year, as assistant principal, Thorpe hosted a competition where the teachers had to decorate a paper fish, which the school children would then judge.
"At first, we were like, ‘Do we have to do this?’ But then, it turned out to be really great," said Neff. "I got really into it and spent hours at home gluing sequins onto my fish. When I got back to school, I saw everyone else had cool ideas, too."
Thorpe began regularly hosting staff games using a "tacky-looking" trophy as the prize for various staff competitions.
She always high-fives students and occasionally greets staff members with the five-fingered hello.
"She tries to make it fun and get us all involved," said kindergarten teacher Diana Ferguson.
High fives aside, Thorpe says her plans for the first day of school is simple: "Right now, I’m just trying to make it through this pregnancy," she said. "But I’ll be back soon enough."
Until then, Stone Spring Elementary staff will have to spend double at Hallmark — one card for the new job and one for the new baby.
Now that’s double duty.
