Alex Mueller- Staff Writer
DEDICATION: Poly High School Principal, Dr. Darel Hansen, upholds a passionate devotion to spurring student success and fostering an inclusive and involved school culture.
Serving as principal since 2019, Darel Hansen remains dedicated to Poly High School, seeking to “raise student achievement” and, as Hansen stresses, ensure Poly “students receive all they need to be successful in what comes next in their lives.” Before coming to Poly High School, Hansen worked for Riverside Unified School District and Hemet Unified School District as an Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources; however, instead of aspiring to higher-level positions, Hansen longed to return to a high school campus. Henceforth, the position of principal attracted him: “I missed the work and daily interaction with students,” Hansen emphasized, stressing his desire to “go back to the job I loved more than anything else.”
As Hansen assumed his position, passionate duty to the school and its students became paramount; he sought and still seeks to spur a successful school atmosphere and maximize student potential. “We’re always looking at our programs and the things we’re doing,” Hansen claimed, and “ensure that we are doing everything we can for our students.” To Hansen, “there is nothing better than students coming through our gates everyday,” with the fruitful and successful reintroduction of Poly students in-person from a year and a half of lockdown serving as his top priority. According to Hansen, Poly educators and staff follow a policy of “all means all,” ensuring every student, regardless of their identity, receives “the best education we could possibly give them.”
High school culture in addition to school success shapes the core of high school, with Hansen emphasizing the new structure of the Poly campus and its facilitation of “a greater sense of culture” which students “should look forward” to seeing “over the next year.” Due to the newly renovated Poly campus, teachers, as Hansen underlines, “can take classes outside” and students can witness pep rallies and other events from newly-constructed seats. Hansen further seeks to integrate students within the campus itself, particularly through student voices such as the Multicultural Council, Principal Councils, and Captain’s Council. Thereby, students, as Hansen asserts, will witness “a big push for inclusion on our campus.” Ultimately, Poly’s principal sees high school as “one of the greatest times of” one’s life, advocating for students “to get involved” by joining or creating clubs and taking “advantage of everything the school has to offer.” He advises students to foster memories within the school itself, forging lasting connections.
Though Hansen is approaching the latter half of his career, students still inspire him to maintain a flame of youth within himself. Hansen proclaims “students have kept me young,” and he treasures their provision as “the greatest gift they have given me.” While Poly still faces the challenges of Covid-19, Hansen champions a spirit of persevering “through it together,” upholding a duty to spur student culture and success and especially spark an exemplary school year.