While Shelagh Fehrenbach may be the new K-12 principal at Leland Public School this year, it’s hardly her first time on campus. The 2005 alumnus is back at her alma mater almost 20 years later after graduating, ready to serve in a district that she says feels a lot like “coming home.”
“I keep saying it feels like I’m working in a magical time machine; the new building is bright and beautiful and I love being in it, even though I still need a tour guide for some of the entrances and exits,” Fehrenbach said. “But there are also people and places that transport me right back to high school, and those memories give me so much joy too... I think that a lot of who I am today was built right here and that it is a really cool thing to be returning to.”
Fehrenbach said much of what she learned in the district as a student helped prepare her to pursue and work in education today. In high school, Fehrenbach was a Teacher Academy student with Career Tech Center (CTC), and she said she remembers working with several of the teachers as a junior and senior who are still with the district today.
“I went to Kim Klein’s first grade classroom and I taught lessons (in high school) and I went to Jon Kiessel’s high school science and I taught lessons, so it’s just a really cool little snippet of threads that started here that have been with me this whole time,” she said. “I like to think that those previous choices and explorations led me to where I was supposed to be.”
With the first day of school fast approaching next Tuesday, Fehrenbach said this week herself and other staff will be working together to ensure classrooms are prepped and ready for the kids to come back and that systems are in place for another year of learning. In her first year as principal, she said she wants to be connected to both the community and staff to really understand any needs to make “great decisions for next steps using that information.” Another goal of hers is to organize a reunion for her graduating class at the end of the year to celebrate and gather together again after so many years.
“I’d like alumni to know that my door is open and I want to be their connection to the school, and I’d love to see the entire Class of 2005 show up to celebrate our reunion next summer,” she said. “Our graduating class was a really special group of people and I learned so much with them and from them. They taught me to be funny, driven, brave, artistic — I could sit with you for hours and tell you about who they were 20 years ago and how proud I am to have had them in my life.”
Although Fehrenbach has previously taught as an elementary and middle school teacher for Traverse City Area Public Schools, she most recently served as elementary principal at Suttons Bay Public School for four years. She said her position at Suttons Bay was her first principalship where she was taught what it looks like to lead a staff that is all in and how to lead “by making other people’s goals happen.”
“They (Suttons Bay staff) were excited about everything they were doing next, so I really learned kind of how to capture that team heart, and then help youth get their goals accomplished… School should be full of joyful memories for kids and I’m happy to be part of that anywhere I go,” she said. “I also learned so much from the Suttons Bay families. They welcomed me and taught me about diversity and connections, taught me to show up, be present, be learning, and be vulnerable. I am so grateful for their care and so thankful for the opportunity to join families in their journeys.”
