This year, the community has seen an exciting, unfamiliar face around Salida High School: new principal Jesse Hull. Hull moved to Salida with his wife and kids (sophomore Jake, seventh grader Alice and fourth grader Lucy) after working at Manitou Springs High School for 17 years. Despite living 108 miles away, Hull has always enjoyed Salida School District’s culture. 

“I’ve always visited the school through athletic events, because where I used to work we competed against Salida and I’ve really always liked the community, the school, the coaches and the kids we competed against. I thought it was a really good fit for our family,” Hull said.  

Hull grew up in New Jersey where he ran cross country and wrestled. He was surrounded by a family of educators. Because of this, Hull was determined to avoid going into education during his time at college. He went to East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. 

“When I was in college I was pretty adamant that I was not going to go into education because I was from a family of educators and I wanted to do something different,” he said.

Hull worked at a few different jobs before he realized his passion lay in education. He worked in retail management at Home Depot and Sherman Williams. Eventually, he got his education degree from Georgia State University. 

“I really missed school and missed coaching and being in a school environment, so I decided to go back to get my education degree,” Hull said.

Hull started his teaching career working in a middle school. He taught at the middle school level for three years. One of his favorite parts of middle school education was the fun interactions he had with the students. 

“I related a lot better to the boys [while teaching middle school] because they were more goofy than the girls, but the girls were really fun too,” Hull said

He eventually realized that he preferred to work in high schools. Interacting with students is one of his favorite parts of being a principal. He enjoys that high schoolers are more mature, and, therefore, he can be a bit more flexible with them. 

“I just like high school students better because they’re closer to adulthood, and they are very goal oriented about what they want to do after high school. I love supporting them in their goals,” Hull said.

While Hull obviously loves supporting students, he enjoys supporting teachers as well. He enjoys helping teachers learn how to better assist students and how to teach more effectively. 

“I like talking to teachers about teaching and learning and effective pedagogy and teaching methods, and that’s why I think I became a principal. I really like supporting teachers in their instruction,” Hull said. 

While Hull’s time at SHS has been running fairly smoothly, he has run into a few challenges. Proper and effective communication has been a challenge so far. Keeping everyone in the school community informed of what’s happening is extremely important, so he has been sending out a weekly newsletter to parents as well as having numerous meetings to enhance communication. 

Hull would like to create and implement systems that help students and teachers grow. He hopes that these systems will improve learning and engagement from students while making teacher’s lives easier.

“I think as a principal you always want to create a structure and systems to make a school better and improve teaching and learning within the school and improve the culture of the school. Big picture, that’s what I would like to do: help create systems and add supports to make the school a better place. It’s already a great place, but I want to make it even better,” Hull said. 

Hull has many hobbies that he loves to do, which are influenced by the fact that he loves athletics and being outside. He loves mountain biking, wrestling and hiking. He has been both a cross country coach and wrestling coach in the past, and he loves watching SHS sports games.The community is looking forward to seeing him learn and adapt to SHS life and culture. SHS welcomes Hull with open arms and hopes that he enjoys his time as principal here.