The new principal of Hot Springs World Class High School, Kiley Simms, says she wants her students to be able to find part of their identity in their school.
"I want them to be proud to be a Trojan, and I want them to know that the Trojan legacy in our area is very rich in history," Simms, who was named the new principal on Tuesday, said in an interview with The Sentinel-Record on Thursday.
Simms has spent her entire professional career with the Hot Springs School District, having started there as an English teacher in 2007.
"I was an English teacher for nine years, an instructor facilitator for a year and I was in my third year as an assistant principal," Simms said.
"Mrs. Simms has built wonderful relationships with our students and has established herself as a leader of integrity and educational expertise within the HSSD. We are confident that she will continue the foundation in place for world-class learning and growth at our high school," Hot Springs School District Superintendent Stephanie Nehus said in a news release.
Simms' family moved here from Nebraska when she was in elementary school, and her work environment has become part of her family.
"They cheer for me when I have successes. My baby is very much their own; she has tons of aunts and uncles. ... We are a very close-knit group," Simms said.
"I would love to really make the Hot Springs secondary experience one that is very memorable for our students. We offer so many awesome opportunities to students like in our academies, National Park (College). We offer them the opportunities to take certifications as eighth-, ninth-, 10th-graders and certifications that will help them increase their pay when they go out to get a job. It's not anything that they have to wait to use," Simms said.
Those certifications include Microsoft, food safety, and hospitality.
"My vision is to really make the secondary a complete experience for them," Simms said.
It was a quick transition for Simms, who noted, "It happened in one day. It took everybody ... it was very fast."
Tremayne White resigned as principal of the school on Monday after having served in the position only six months.
Simms said the students and teachers have been very welcoming and she feels thankful.
She said she likes to lead by example and would never ask people to do things she could do for herself. She said she wants everyone she is working for, and serving, to know she is working "just as hard as I expect them to work for our students, and the students to work for themselves, too.
"My work ethic is something that I pride myself in," she said.
Simms noted she is "very proud" to be working with students she taught, noting it excites her because it reminds the students of a family atmosphere.
"I think that it is part of the community and culture that we thrive on," she said.
Simms said she graduated from Magnet Cove High School in 2003 and attended college at Henderson State University, where she got her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and minor in Spanish and History in 2006. Later, she went back to HSU to get her Master of Arts in Teaching and Master of Science in Education for Building Administration. While she was completing her master's degree, she became National Board Certified.
"I am just basically a lifelong learner," Simms said.
Local on 12/07/2019