By Don Murtha
If John F. Kennedy High School students want a clue of their new principal’s goals for their school, all they need to do is look at his license plate.
It reads “JFK ONE.”
|Kennedy Principal Benjamin Merrill is a man of goals, determination and loyalty.
“My first goal is to make JFK the best high school in the state of its size,” he said.
Merrill said the school is well on its way to meeting that goal.
“We offer courses that no other district offers, like sports medicine, introduction to engineering, advanced physics, firefighting and emergency medical tech. Silverton High School sends students over to us for the sports medicine class,” Merrill said.
He credited his predecessor Troy Stoops with much of the success of the school’s programs.
Stoops was promoted from high school principal to district superintendent when Robert Young retired in June.
“It is really great to have the one who went before you right at hand to offer advice and assistance when you need it,” Merrill said.
He is also well along on his goal to modernize the school library in a three-phase plan to make it more inviting.
“I want to make the library like a Starbucks, without the coffee. To re-invigorate the environment and make the place more attractive to students,” he said.
The first phase of modernization has been accomplished. Students sat at their computers in a horseshoe arrangement, many with the monitor to their backs.
“I came in one Saturday and rearranged the seating so that everyone faces the monitor during class sessions,” he said.
The next goal for the library is to bring in electronic books, Kindles, to replace old or worn out books on the shelves.
“We have applied to Oktoberfest for a grant to purchase seven Kindles and we have set up an account with Amazon to purchase electronic books,” Merrill said.
“Instead of checking out a book in the library, the students will be able to check out a Kindle. We will have a digital data base to follow the Kindles,” he said.
The next phase will be to make the library more comfortable.
“We hope to have couches in the library to make it more user-friendly and inviting. It will be nontraditional. But since we have no money for couches we hope to get donations,” he said. “I think these changes will help improve reading scores in the school.”
Throughout the school Merrill is making other changes as well.
“We are making a lot of little tweaks here and there to make the school more inviting and improve security,” he said
One “tweak” was to move the trophy display case. Merrill said in its previous location people could hide behind it and sneak in and out of the building. Now relocated, it is still well displayed but not a hiding place.
Another change will be the location of the secretary’s desk so people entering the building can be greeted by an adult.
Merrill has asked the entire staff to wear identification badges and has a loose-leaf binder with individual pictures of the entire student body.
“If a student gets lost or some other issue arises, we have his or her picture,” he said.
Merrill coached weights and wrestling as well as teaching history prior to moving into administration. He was hired by the school district last March, but had a contract with another district in Idaho to complete.
That contract ended on June 15 and on June 16 he got in his car and drove to Mount Angel. He soon discovered that he had made a fortunate choice.
“I found that the teaching staff was the greatest. The biggest difference here from other schools where I have been is the quality of the staff. This group of people is second to none,” he said.
He thinks the same of the student body and individual students.
“The kids here are good and I am very pleased,” he said. But there is plenty of discipline to go around.
“I can be pretty strict,” he said.
Merrill, 32, is a native of Baker, Ore. He attended Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario and earned a bachelor of arts degree in history and education at Boise State University.
“Everyone here is from Oregon or Oregon State but I’m from Boise State,” he said. Merrill’s Boise State football helmet collection is a reminder of his alma mater.
His first teaching job after graduation was in a remote Alaskan community, Mountain Village, a town of less than 500 near the Bering Sea.
“The people there spoke Russian and I was the only white man there among the Aleuts. There was no running water because everything froze in the winter,” he said. “I learned quickly how to get along in the bush.”
After a year, Merrill took a job in Declo, Idaho teaching history and coaching. He stayed five years and earned his master’s degree at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Ariz. He became principal in Riggins, Idaho, where he was married.
Merrill next served in Notus, Idaho about 15 miles from Boise, as principal and later as superintendent.
Now happily situated in Mount Angel, he’s focused on his new goal: JFK ONE.
