By: Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The beginning of the school year always brings a mixture of new and old that makes every year different.

This school year, on top of the usual influx of freshmen, Lake Orion High School introduced three new Associate Principals, not only to the building, but to the district.

After a lengthy interview process over the summer, the school board and current Principal, Stephen Hawley had selected three new associate principals:

• Shawn Durso – Durso has her Masters in K12 Educational Leadership from Eastern Michigan University and a Masters in Secondary Education from Wayne State University.

Before coming to Lake Orion she spent about 15 years in Highland, MI at Milford High School, first as an English teacher then as the Dean of students.

• Anthony Palmeri – Palmeri has his Masters of Arts in Educational Leadership from Central Michigan University and his Masters of Science in Biological Science from Michigan State University.

Prior to Lake Orion, he spent several years as a science teacher at Avondale Middle School and high school before becoming the assistant principal at Avondale Middle School in 2016.

• Vernon Burden – Burden has his Masters of Arts in Educational Leadership from Eastern Michigan University. He has spent many years in the Southfield school district, starting his career teaching mathematics at Southfield High School before later becoming the assistant principal.

In 2017 he became the Assistant Principal of Thompson K-8 International Academy, also in Southfield.

Though it’s only been three weeks, all three associate principals were quick to sing their praises of the school and the community as a whole.

“One of the primary things that I found attractive about Lake Orion is the number of things that they offer the kids. It really is a building that asks the question ‘what is best for students’ and does everything it can to implement what is best for students. So, from the block schedule, which is kind of unusual, very unusual actually, to the number of club and sport opportunities that are available to the kids that was very very attractive,” Durso said.

Though three of them come from different teaching backgrounds, they get along very well and their backgrounds give them a broad range of reach inside the school, giving their team a greater edge than most.

“Different subjects taught, different experiences, from Auburn Hills (Avondale) to Milford to Southfield, three different communities all converging on Lake Orion and [the] experiences that we bring, that’s just something that aids and helps with the team, as Shawn said, it’s just perfect compliments, because you get a fresh idea, a different look for every single thing,” Vernon added.

All three of them have high hopes for this school year and are looking forward to becoming a bigger part of the Lake Orion community this year and beyond.

“The intrinsic reward is just the day-to-day growth that you get to witness, so, we have a lot of kids that are going to do tremendous things this year and everyday is a telltale of those sorts of things. Our theme this year at the high school is ‘failure precedes success’… that’s the currency of the work we do, that’s the reward we get, when we see kids that are improving, kids reaching, extending themselves, taking those risks, becoming the best version of themselves, those are the things I look forward to,” Anthony said as Shawn and Vernon agreed.

Shawn, Vernon, and Anthony are all very happy to be apart of Lake Orion. Lake Orion has a long-standing reputation of being a gracious and welcoming community with a strong school system. Dragon pride is no joke and though it’s been a short time, all three new associate principals feel confident in saying that they are Dragons.