Last year, STCE welcomed Nicole Osborne as the first female dean since the 1990s. This year, she became our new Assistant Principal for Student Life after the retirement of Lisa Dandre.
In an interview discussing her new role here at East and her involvement in planning and managing homecoming, Osborne started off by explaining how she has been in the educational field for 22 years. She originally started as an English teacher, teaching bilingual English classes, as well as AP English Language and AP English Literature.
As the Assistant Principal for Student Life, Osborne addressed her commitment to promoting student involvement and student culture. She discussed how she asks herself how to involve students in student life activities, such as homecoming and prom, and explained how all of this helps create a sense of community for students.
Osborne discussed how important our staff are to the East community. One of the things that Osborne does is a quarterly open house to help “see what staff are invested in to help students grow.”
She believes that being the Assistant Principal for Student Life is a great opportunity to help bring a positive experience to students and find new ways to connect with them. She described the contrast from her previous role as a dean, which required a bit more discipline. Osborne explained that, despite her new role, she is still very much involved in the dean’s office; in fact, the Assistant Principal for Student Life is in charge of the dean’s office.
Osborne explained how she enjoys working with students in a “different capacity,” such as supporting them through activities, such as the Orange and Black, and doing different activity highlights with photos and videos throughout the year.
The Assistant Principal for Student Life plays a crucial role in planning and managing homecoming. Osborne explained how much planning goes into homecoming, “[planning] starts in July: We reach out to the city, and we talk about shutting down the downtown [for the parade]. We get the police involved, we make sure that they’re available and we set up transportation,” she said.
She is involved in every aspect of homecoming, through the executive board, student council, working with class advisors, administrators and working with athletics to make sure everything is going the way it is supposed to. Osborne also has to make sure the MC’s scripts are set up for the assembly, volleyball and Small Games. She works closely with the executive board to make sure all of that happens.
Osborne wants both students and staff to know that she is someone you can reach out to if you have any questions or concerns.
It is clear that the position of Assistant Principal for Student Life is a role that requires a lot of commitment to student activities—to help make our high school experiences more enjoyable.
