For the past few months, Mrs. Morgan-Hostetler has been a bubbly, pleasant, smiling face seen often walking the halls of SWHS. Starting early this year in her job as a new Associate Principal, Mrs. Morgan-Hostetler has gotten the chance to meet many students of South Windsor High, getting to know them and helping them through various struggles. But, the students haven’t yet gotten the chance to know our new face in administration. As students, we want to know who we’re turning to in a time of need, so we sat down with Mrs. Morgan-Hostetler to learn more about the person behind the job.

How did you get into being an assistant principal?

I was a teacher for many years, I actually also coached soccer here in South Windsor, and I’ve just really always gravitated towards leadership positions. As a teacher, I started to feel like I wanted to do a little more and pursued an administrative certification. I was an assistant principal at a middle school before here, and now I’m here, back at South Windsor

What is the hardest part of your job?

The hardest part, but also probably the most exciting part, is that I’m constantly solving problems. I really like that challenge. Everyday is very different, you sort of never know what could come your way and I like being on my toes that way. I like being able to help people work through issues. Sometimes that challenge includes helping students and I very much enjoy working with teenagers. So, while that can be a frustrating part of my job, or a challenging part of my job, it’s also the most rewarding.

How do you like being a part of the South Windsor High School community?

I love it. I find that it’s a very positive and very professional place to work. I think that the students are terrific. They’re very involved, there’s a really strong sense of school spirit here. And, I like to also see that in the teachers. I just think it’s a really positive place to be, a very healthy environment.

What do you consider your greatest accomplishment in your life so far?

I have to say, that while potentially a little cliche, I really enjoy being a mom. I’m really proud of my kids. I have three boys, 20, almost 19, and 16. That’s the part of me that I love the best. I love being with my family, we travel a lot. And, I’m very proud of the fact that they are polite, respectful, good people.

Where’s the coolest place you’ve traveled with your family?

We’re going to Iceland in April. But it really depends. We’ve been all over the country. I used to throw my kids in a minivan and my husband is also a teacher, so every summer we used to travel the whole country. We ended up buying this god-awful wreck of an RV. We flew out to L.A., we picked it up, we’d never used one or driven one before. We drove like the entire West Coast for about a month and then headed home. It took a few weeks to get home. I loved Glacier National Park, I loved Banff in Canada, we went to England last year and Croatia – not in the RV, we’ve since gotten rid of that. I mean, the most exotic maybe Croatia. The most serene, Glacier. Gosh, that’s a really hard question, but I’m going to go Glacier. I think Glacier National Park was awesome.

What inspires the sense of wanderlust that you seem to have?

My husband and I both agreed from the get-go that it’s really important for our kids to see that the world is not just Connecticut. We love to hike, we love to be active, so that physical part of climbing mountains and kayaking. We’ve gone repelling, whitewater rafting, skydiving, things like that. That is very thrilling for us, we’re all very physical and active. But, I really think it’s important for the kids to really open their eyes, broaden their horizons, and see that not everyone looks like we do, not everyone has the privilege we have. We tend to be in a little bit of a bubble here and I think it’s important for them to see that that’s not really what the whole world is like. You can read about it, but it’s another thing to be there.

Who, outside of your family, inspires you most in life?

Well, you know, just going back to my coaching roots, I was always inspired as a young adult by Pat Summitt, who was the coach of Tennessee Women’s Basketball. Reason being that I just loved her. She was a tough cookie, she held kids accountable. But her players, from what I’ve been able to learn about her in watching her at various clinics and in reading her books and articles, her players had a great deal of respect for her. She was able to help women feel empowered and strong, but she was understanding too. She held a hard line for her athletes, expected a lot, but they always would go back to her in the end. Very much an inspiration in that way, as a coach, as a mom, as a leader, as a woman.