This year, Hollis Brookline High School gained a new principal, Jacob Hess. Hess arrived with many goals and aspirations, ready to work hard to achieve them. Mr. Hess has had an incredible journey from teacher to principal. 

Hess made his way up the educational ladder trying to help others along the way. He stated, “When I was a teacher I never wanted to be a principal, or be involved in admin.”It wasn’t until he was inspired by one of the Vice Principals at his old school that he even considered trying out a leadership role. This is when he decided to join a teacher leadership program, the first step in his journey to earning an administrative degree. 

Hollis Brookline is not the first place Hess has taken a leadership role. He started his administrative journey at White Mountains Regional High School in Whitefield, NH, where he was English Teacher for two years, an Assistant Principal for four years, and  Principal for two years. He then moved on to become the Principal at Campbell High School in Litchfield, NH for three years. Then he started his journey at Hollis Brookline High School.

Although Mr. Hess enjoys his role as principal now, there are things he misses about being a teacher. He said, “I miss talking about literature with kids.” Hess truly enjoys engaging with students and doing whatever he can to help them succeed. These morals he gained as a teacher help him do well as a principal now. When Hess was asked what the one thing he wished students knew about him was, he said,“ I wish students knew they can come up to me with anything.” Hess is very focused on allowing students to voice their concerns to him about the school. 

Although Mr. Hess has only been a part of the Hollis Brookline community for half a year, he already has positive things to say about it. He stated, “Hollis Brookline high school is an incredible high school and not just because of the high test scores. The kids are polite and say good morning and thank you.” The positive attributes of Hollis Brookline not only help the school stand out to the community, but are noticed in the day to day operations within the school. Hess enjoyed the opportunity to meet new kids at events like Old Homes Days. He also makes it a goal to learn one new student’s name per day.

Mr. Hess also shared some of his goals for the HBHS community… He said, “I want to develop a school where any kid feels comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas for the school”. This goes beyond just the kids on the Student Council. Hess wants any student to be able to feel comfortable to share their ideas or improvements they want to make within the school. Hess wants kids to enjoy coming to school and  not having school feels like something that happens to them, but that kids are influencing the school. 

Mr. Hess really cares about the culture at HB, and not only preserving what is special about it, but expanding on all its positive and healthy attributes, to really make HB feel like a home away from home.