The new principal said Monday, while taking a break from reacquainting himself with his alma mater, that he was excited to see so many familiar faces and about “reconnecting” after being away from the Person County Schools system for the past nine years.

Hester took an annual leave day Monday, from his then-job with Granville County Schools as principal of Granville Central High in Stem.

He assumed the reins of Person High on Tuesday following the June 30 retirement of Margaret Bradsher, who served as principal of the 1,700-student high school for the past three years.

The incoming high school principal is a native of Person County who graduated from Person Senior High in 1979. He lives in Hurdle Mills.

He said Monday, “I am very excited. I love this school. This is my high school.”

Hester said he looked forward to being a part of the Person High School team, emphasizing the word, “team.”

He said he plans to make faculty a big part of the decision-making process to “move the whole school forward.”

In order to move forward, Hester said, the PHS team must remember to “put the kids first. An administrator’s first priority,” he said, “is serving the teachers who serve the kids.”
The new principal commended Bradsher for her work at PHS, conceding that he had big shoes to fill. He said he hopes to continue building on Bradsher’s foundation and “continue the good things” at the high school.

He also hopes to lead his faculty, through shared input, “to identify the good things, the things we need to adjust and what we need to stop” doing.

“Staff input will be crucial,” he said, to his role as both leader and cheerleader.

When making any decision, Hester said, he believed the administrators and teachers should “always ask the question, ‘How is this going to affect the students?’ The students are why we’re here,” he said, “and they should be our focal point.”

During his first year, Hester said, he plans to consult with staff members and build a team of dedicated professionals while being visible in the halls of PHS.

While a principal of a large high school can’t be as hands-on as most would like, Hester said, “I will be visible in the school. You’ve got to get out and see things for yourself but entrust your team of professionals to do their jobs.”

Hester also believes in “listening to your kids and working to meet their needs.” He said that teachers and administrators should constantly be looking for “any way to connect them (students) to the school.”

He praised the Rev. Tim Bowes and the staff and volunteers at Youth for Christ in Roxboro, saying that Bowes and YFC had provided “a constructive place where kids don’t have to worry about hustling or being hustled” in The Warehouse.

The principal said YFC and The Warehouse offered a community-based asset that “coincides with school things.”

When asked how he first became interested in education as a career, Hester said many of his teachers and administrators set good examples for him when he was coming through Person County Schools. He added that many in his family were involved in education and set examples as well.

But, Hester concluded, for him, “It’s a calling. It’s how I can serve” the community that means so much to him.

After receiving his B.S. in physical education from Elon University in 1983, Hester went on to earn a master of education in education administration from North Carolina Central University in 1991.

He taught P.E. at Earl Bradsher Elementary School in Roxboro from 1984 to 1988 before moving to Northern Junior High as a P.E. teacher for two years. Hester then served as assistant principal of South Elementary School and Southern Middle School before becoming principal at South in 1996.

He left that post in 1999 to serve as principal of Butner-Stem Elementary School in Butner until February 2007, when he went to Granville Central.

Hester was named the Wachovia Principal of the Year for Granville County Schools in 2006. He serves as Boy Scout Committee Chairman of Troop 293 at Salem United Methodist Church and is on the Officer Nominating Committee at Salem. He has served as Person Rocket Invitational Annual Wrestling Tournament chairman as well.

He completed the Principal’s Executive Program and has served as a Teacher Academy leader and completed High Performance Model and Facilitative Leadership Training.

Hester said that, while he had loved working in Granville County Schools, and it had “been a growing experience for me that I very much appreciate,” he is happy to be back home and serving his own community again.

The time in Granville, he said, “was a chance to fly away from home and see different things and different viewpoints. That can be a good thing, that diversity in thoughts and ideas.

“No one person holds all the wisdom,” he said, “that is why being a team is so important.”