Catching up with principal hastings-hauf

By: Kenzie Ryan

Principal Shawn Hastings-Hauf has been a part of Glenelg since the fall of 2021. From the start, she has set her focus on making Glenelg a welcoming place and helping the students and community adapt to life post-COVID. The Shield staff wanted to catch up with her to see how her Glenelg experience has been!

What about Glenelg is different from what you expected?
“I don’t know if anything is very different. I was so excited when I got here and heard so many great things over the years and that’s all been supported here. The students, faculty, and staff are really personable and it’s been great!” 

Do you feel like you’ve become a part of the community?
“I do!! I feel like that's a testament to the community, especially getting a new principal and coming in at kind of a weird time for everybody… The community and the community groups have really embraced me and the admin team. I love going to all of the different functions, and I really feel like a part of the community.”

What’s the biggest struggle you face at Glenelg?
Hastings-Hauf has proven to be a very involved principal and the only challenge for her has been the difficulty in “being a part of everything. The front office staff tries to divide everything up. Our favorite part is going into classrooms and seeing the students but sometimes there are other pieces of the job that sometimes pull you away from being together with people.”

What is one thing that you want the people reading to know about you?
“I sincerely love this school and the community and I’m excited every day to work with students and staff in this building. I’m not a person who gives easy praise, but I truly am so proud of so many of the accomplishments that everyone here makes on a daily basis. I’m so grateful to be here and coming to work is a huge highlight for me.”

What do your weekends look like?
Hastings-Hauf and her family live locally. On her weekends she takes her kids to sporting events and runs errands. She is as active in her home life as she is within the school. Her daughter loves coming to GHS basketball games and her sons are active in the lacrosse community.

What are you most proud of achieving here?
“I really love hearing from the students and I’m trying to get more and more student voices and student participation. I am really proud that we have so many clubs hosting events here because I think that this is a school for the students and about the students. I am most proud as a leader when I go around and see the student leadership around me and allow them to have their voice and have their own experience here.”

On average, how many emails do you receive a day? How do you manage getting through them with such a busy schedule?
Hastings-Hauf said that she goes through roughly 100 emails a day. When explaining how she goes through them all it appears that she creates her own system without realizing: she goes through all the emails, sees who they are from and decides how to approach. When seeing a teacher email, she stops by during her “rounds” of the school and talks about it. Hastings-Hauff proves to care about all aspects of Glenelg when answering emails of parents, students, teachers, and community members.