Welcoming Hamilton’s New Associate Principal: Mr. Jensen
Photos submitted by Mr. Jensen.
Starting in the 26-27 school year, Hamilton High School has added a new associate principal to the staff: Mr. Lucas Jensen. This step into his career will signify his 19th year in education and the lasting, positive impact he hopes to make on Hamilton’s community. In this interview with Charger Press, Mr. Jensen answered some questions to outline his goals and aspirations within his new role.
Responses were edited for clarity and length.
Can you describe your history in education?
I started teaching in 2007. I taught at Bradford High School in Kenosha for a year and then in fall of 2008, I started at Oconomowoc High School and I taught there until 2021. In the fall of ’21, I started at Whitnall High School. I was there for five school years, and now I'm here.
I was a science teacher. I started out in biology and a little bit of chemistry, and then the majority of my teaching classroom career was with human anatomy, so I taught human anatomy class at Oconomowoc—it’s really fun.
How did you know you wanted to go into education?
After I graduated from college, I moved to Maryland and I worked at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for a year… in one of the projects that we worked on we paired up with a local community college, and we were teaching some of the forestry students there how to use chainsaws. That was the first time that I had really sat down and mentored people through that process and working with the chainsaw, and I really enjoyed that. It kind of set me on a path and made me think and reevaluate what my next steps were going to be.
Can you describe your current role here and what you do?
I can do all kinds of things anywhere from discipline [to supervision]. I was just in the lunchroom doing supervision. I'll work with teachers on things that they want to improve on, develop on. I will probably work with the district office curriculum department this year a little bit, so kind of all over the place.
What are some things you really like about working at Hamilton?
The people have been really great; the adults that I work with have been really awesome. [It’s a] super great team here. I also think, generally speaking, the students have been very welcoming when I start talking to them. They're a little bit weirded out at first, 'cause they're wondering who this guy is, but then it's like every other normal student interaction, so overall, I'd say the impression is the community and the people have been really great.
What made you know that you wanted to be Associate Principal at Hamilton?
I was an instructional coach at Whitnall and I was out of the classroom for two full school years and really enjoyed that process of working with the adults in the building to better their practice and really help them figure out what they wanted to do in their rooms to make themselves a better teacher and have an impact on students. So knowing that I enjoyed that, the next step to have an even bigger positive impact in a school community is to go into administration.
What are you most excited about stepping into your new role?
I'm excited to continue to do those things that I did in my past districts: work with teachers and continue to work on the things that they want to work on and improve on. I was also a part time associate principal at my old school and so I worked with students on a 1-on-1 basis who needed some extra support in some way. It was really enjoyable to mentor students through that and be another partner that they can have in the building to have a positive impact and improve their experience in a building. I’m looking forward to doing those same things here.
Please welcome Mr. Jensen as Hamilton’s new Associate Principal!
