Chris Maguire knows the task at hand. He was born and raised in southern Vermont to a family steeped in education. He now stands ready to lead local middle school students from Dorset, Danby, Mt. Tabor, Sunderland and Manchester as their Principal for the newly consolidated and renamed Equinox Valley Middle School.
One month into his new assignment, Maguire sat down for an interview led by one of his new students, eighth grader Chase McNeil. They spoke in depth about his journey from a middle school skateboarder to an education professional and his hopes and dreams for their new school community.
The following interview has been edited for brevity.
Can you tell us about your background in education?
I would love to. So, I've been an educator now for 22 years. My first 21 years were all in the SVSU (Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union), down in Bennington. Two years as a 6th grade teacher in an elementary school and after that I taught Social Studies and English for eight years at Mount Anthony Middle School (MAU-MS). Then I was hired to be an assistant principal at MAU-MS for six years, before moving up to the Principal position for the last five years.
So why make the move up to Manchester to be Principal at Equinox Valley Middle School?
I see this job as a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to start a new school. It’s not often that you get the chance to work with kids, staff and parents in building a whole new community. I’m both humbled and excited.
Did you have a favorite teacher or educator that had a big impact on you and led to your teaching career?
My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Gibbons, who taught for 40 years, was an excellent teacher who inspired us with class projects. There was also a college professor who believed in me and encouraged me to add special education to my college major.
But maybe the most impact on my career came from my mother. She was a very successful teacher and principal down in the SVSU. One funny note, when she retired that was the same year that I became an assistant principal - kind of a cool changing of the guards.
She always inspired me. I remember going with her to the grocery store and people would walk up to her. “I remember you as my sixth grade teacher;” “You helped me with that thing;” “You were my favorite principal!”
She was like a movie star. I saw how many people she had helped. That was really inspiring to me.
What is something students might be surprised to learn about you?
Oh, boy. I'm thinking how candid I should be in this response. All right, so I'm an avid hiker, hunter, and fisherman. I really like the outdoors in general. I'll also share something that many people probably don't know about me. When I was in high school and middle school, I had several pretty unique hair colors.
Is there a reason why?
I played guitar, and I was really into punk rock music and stuff like skateboarding. I just liked having different hair colors, so I did.
That's fun. Was there a favorite hair color?
Uh, yep. I can't believe I'm throwing myself under with all this info, but I had neon yellow highlighter yellow hair.
What's been your favorite part of Equinox Valley Middle School (EVMS) so far?
It's hard to kind of pin it down to one thing, but I would have to say just interacting with the students. And what I observe is that students are really enjoying having their own middle school space. It's just really fun to watch them navigating the building like true middle schoolers, the social interactions in the hallways, transitioning to the different period classes, and following a true middle school schedule. So just seeing them go through those steps and interacting with them, that's been my favorite part.
With students from four different school communities (Currier Memorial, Sunderland Elementary, The Dorset School, and Manchester Elementary Middle School) coming together, what are you most excited about as EVMS creates its own identity?
The thing that I'm most excited about is that I cannot tell what schools kids came from. And I'm excited because I feel like we're establishing our own identity and our own culture. That was certainly a goal of mine, that all students would feel part of something, and there's not these different segregated groups within the school based on where they came from. The fact that I literally have to ask students, "Hey, where did you go to school last year?” I'm really excited about that.
At the end of EVMS's first year, what do you hope students, families, and staff will be able to say about the school?
The most important piece is our identity and our culture. And I think that if at the end of the year people feel like they've had a positive experience - that would be students feel like they're learning, having fun, able to be social, and they feel like they're part of something - that would be really gratifying to me.
And parents feeling like their children are being prepared for the next steps. They're getting good communication and the answers that they need. They're feeling like their kids are safe and productive at school. That's all part of the culture of the building. Those would be some of the things that I would hope that they would feel at the conclusion of the year.
Go back in time, if you could speak to Chris Maguire in middle school, what advice would you give him?
Well, that's deep. I think that what I would try to explain to my middle school self, which would be very hard to do because the brain is just not there quite yet, I would try to explain to myself that the things that you think are the biggest things in the world, they're not going to be.
Whether it's some way that you've been hurt or something that you're really stressed or upset about as a middle schooler, I would try to remind myself those things will pass. You will get through them. And as you grow up, they won't be the biggest things anymore. And so you just got to persevere and get through it. You'll come out the other end okay.
On the flip side, if you could give EVMS students today one piece of advice for this year, what would it be?
On top of the advice I just gave myself, I would just reiterate, be a good citizen. Be part of something. Be kind and be a part of this culture that we're building. You know how you want to feel, so, work to make other people feel that way, too.
Besides your middle school yellow magic marker hair, is there anything else you want students, parents, and staff to know about you?
What's the word I want to use? I’m humbled. Humbled to be given this opportunity. It's been a lot of fun so far. It's been a lot of work. Everyone's been extremely welcoming - students, families, community, and staff. Everyone. I just want to work together with them and build something awesome.
(Photo above: After their wide ranging interview, Equinox Valley Middle School 8th grader Chase McNeil stands with Principal Chris Maguire next to the new school sign.)
Equinox Valley Principal Chris Maguire speaks with students in the school hallwy.