After spending two years as the gifted supervisor for Southern Lehigh, Mr. Thomas Ruhf stepped up in July to the position of assistant principal.

This year, Mr. Ruhf is responsible for enforcing discipline, conducting teacher observations, and helping with e-learn (online) classes, as well as working more closely with all the students. He also is responsible for scheduling out his day minute by minute, so he is constantly doing something.

“The days go extremely fast since I’m constantly going from one thing to another,” Mr. Ruhf said. “Everything is so fast paced, so I sometimes don’t have time to do things.”

There are many other things that are new and different for Mr. Ruhf as well. For instance, he now has to work in the summers, is in the school for more hours each day, and gets to work more closely with the teachers and students, rather than working with only gifted students as he did in the past.

Plenty of staff members are excited to be able to work more closely with Mr. Ruhf this year as well.

“He takes initiative and takes care of his judgement,” English teacher Mrs. Lauren Tocci said. “He cares about his job and has a great sense of humor about it.”

Mr. Ruhf has also set a list of goals he hopes to accomplish this year. He wants to make sure he is able to transition into the job, meet everyone’s needs, communicate well, and ensure all the initiatives of the school are fulfilled.

“I think what I like best about working with Mr. Ruhf is that he is smart, thoughtful, and very efficient!” assistant principal Mrs. Beth Guarriello said. “He is always working for the best interests of our students and he definitely makes me a much better educator. I value his opinions and have learned a great deal by working with him.”

Even though Mr. Ruhf will miss being the gifted supervisor, he is very excited to work in this new position.

“In this school, you have a really unique group of kids who are really mature, smart, and really hardworking, and I think the teachers here are really dedicated to their students and working,” Mr. Ruhf said. “I’ve been here for three years and everything has started so much smoother this year. I just know it’s going to be a good year.”