TARBORO – Principal Marc Whichard has begun his tenth year as a school administrator, and along with continuing to serve as the principal of SouthWest Edgecombe High School, Whichard is also the Lead Principal within the Edgecombe County Public Schools system.

      The Edgecombe County Public Schools issued the press release.

       “I am excited about being a mentor for beginning principals,” says Whichard.  “The first days in making a leap from assistant principal to principal can be very lonely.  You want to do what’s right but you can be afraid to put your hand up to say I need help.”

       Whichard says he plans to be there for these administrators through telephone call, email, and by stopping by when it’s convenient to be an open, nonjudgmental ear and a shoulder upon which they can lean.

       “I jokingly say I want SouthWest to be the best school in the county but we have to do a better job about having each other’s backs.  I want to be the first to say I’m glad to do that,” he stated.

       As a principal, Whichard shares that he enjoys most being able to work with teachers by providing them with the necessary support to help facilitate the teaching and learning process.

       “I became a principal because I wanted to be a servant leader and to help support teachers,” explained Principal Whichard.  “Classroom teachers have the ability to work with a select group of students and to control everything that happens within their four walls.  I love that aspect of education.  I wanted to have an ever greater impact as a principal to create an environment of quality teaching and learning and to have a larger impact in terms of being a positive footprint in helping a community and society to grow.”

        Whichard expressed that the thing that he misses the most about being a classroom teacher is having a minute by minute interaction with students.  “I have conversations with my students but it is much more fast-paced and not as sustained as when I was a teacher.  I miss seeing the lights go off in their heads when they get a concept and when they develop their own ideas and thoughts.”

         He has both his undergraduate and graduate degrees from East Carolina University.