{"id":5588,"date":"2017-05-31T10:47:41","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T15:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/?p=5588"},"modified":"2018-01-02T14:00:51","modified_gmt":"2018-01-02T20:00:51","slug":"trotier-recognized-2017-high-school-principal-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maryville.edu\/mpress\/trotier-recognized-2017-high-school-principal-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Trotier, \u201915, Recognized as High School Principal of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Rockwood Superintendent Eric Knost, EdD, walks into a district school building, he can assess quickly if education is happening the way it should.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see whether the kids are acting in a positive, respectful manner,\u201d Knost says. \u201cYou can tell whether the kids feel comfortable and safe. You can see how kids feel about their school and the learning environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those conditions are strongly evident at Rockwood Summit High School, Knost says, largely because of Renee Trotier, EdD, \u201915, who is Missouri\u2019s 2017 High School Principal of the Year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know precisely who is running the show,\u201d Knost says. \u201cI don\u2019t mean that in an authoritarian way. I mean having high expectations and good relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trotier, who earned her doctorate in educational leadership<\/a> at 91ÖÆƬ³§, says Summit\u2019s supportive culture and climate are no accident.<\/p>\n

Back in 2014-15, a few years after she became principal, she realized the school needed to take a fresh look at where it was going. Its decade-old mission and vision statements were outdated, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey really weren\u2019t part of the school\u2019s culture,\u201d Trotier says. \u201cIt was just words on a piece of paper. We wanted to have a really shared vision, so that we would all have the same concepts and ideas about what an ideal school would be.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a full year, but Trotier says the resulting theme \u2014 \u201cOne Summit. One Legacy. Inspiring Excellence.\u201d \u2014 sums up what a school should be all about: community, connections, leadership by students and adults, strong academics, social and emotional learning and an environment where everyone feels safe physically and feels comfortable taking risks.<\/p>\n

And Trotier says that with 1,300 students, Summit is the perfect size \u2014 large enough to provide a variety of experiences and classes, yet small enough that individual students don\u2019t get lost. In such an atmosphere, if the principal knows your name it\u2019s not necessarily because you\u2019ve attracted negative attention.<\/p>\n

\"Trotier<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThey know the adults care about them,\u201d she says of the students at Summit. \u201cIn a larger school, kids would pass you in the halls and not even look at you. Here, I never walk from the school to my car without kids offering to carry something or open a door for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The annual Principal of the Year competition is hosted by the Missouri Association of Secondary School Principals. Phil Lewis, executive director of the organization, says Trotier\u2019s relationships with the students, teachers and parents at Summit exemplify what a good principal is all about.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has fostered an environment where kids are more involved in their own education and that builds a school community,\u201d Lewis says. \u201cWhen you see a principal talking to a teacher, a principal in the hallway, a principal who come up to kids and talks about the activity they were in last night \u2014 an assembly, a football game, a robotics competition \u2014 that shows that they have a better atmosphere to learn in.\u201d<\/p>\n

This fall, Trotier will represent Missouri in the national Secondary Principal of the Year competition. But in the area that Summit serves, she is already a winner.<\/p>\n

<\/i>Love<\/span>0<\/span><\/span><\/a> <\/i> <\/i>