New assistant principal Anne Morris took over for Kim Keller when Keller became principal this year. Although Keller left big shoes to fill, Morris is the right fit.  She’s also got the advantage of being able to go to Keller for help when things get tough.

“I’ve had a lot to learn in terms of adapting to Jeffco — she helped me with that. She is an open-door kind of person, so mostly if I have a question I just march into her office and say ‘I need help’ and she helps me with almost everything,” Morris said.

Morris taught for 20 years as a German, English, humanities, and Theory of Knowledge teacher. She worked at Thunder Ridge as the IB coordinator and was excited to hear that we have an IB program at Dakota Ridge.

“That’s another big reason that I wanted to come here,” Morris said. “I believe in the philosophy of that program and educating kids to not only be smart and worldly but also good human beings, and I saw that here, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Although Morris does come from a teaching background, the classroom was not big enough for her to engage in the ways she wanted, which led her to seek an assistant principal role

“I think I’m a big picture thinker, so just thinking about my classroom wasn’t really enough for me, I was thinking about how we make our school better and not just our classroom. So, little by little, I was doing more with IB,” Morris said.

“This is the big picture stuff. I like supporting teachers,” Morris said. “I love being in classrooms that are not English classrooms and seeing how different teachers approach things and seeing kids in different contexts. This team of administrators I get to work with is phenomenal. They’ve been really supportive and kind to me, and they are very focused on kids, so I feel really lucky to be on this team in this school. It’s doing for me what I was hoping when I went into admin, which was being a part of the bigger picture.”

That big picture also included traveling to Germany to observe schools. Morris lived in Regensburg, Germany for two years, and she said if she could fly anywhere she would go back. Regensburg left an impact on Morris, making her feel more prepared to take on this role as the assistant principal.

“I think that that changed my life because it helped me be better at perspective taking and maybe not looking at the world around me and assuming it was normal and being able to put myself into other people’s shoes better. I think it made me into a better person,” Morris said.

Though the thought had always been in her mind to be an assistant principal, adjustments are still needed.

“I don’t know as many kids, and I love kids. I’m a people person, so I miss having that group of kids that I’m around every day that know me well and trust me. I think that will come with time, but that’s been hard, I miss it,” Morris said.

Morris explains her love for the community at this school and how the students are friendly and the staff is there for the students. She says there’s a good culture at Dakota Ridge High School and it was her top pick for many different reasons.

“My kids are going to go through here, and I think it’s pretty important that I’m involved with the community,” Morris said. “I think I can do a better job if I can completely commit to my school, if it’s in my community, so that’s part of why it was really important to me.”

Dakota Ridge High School is in luck with Morris joining the administration. If you see her in the hall, make sure to say hi!