This year MHS welcomed two new assistant principals, Dawnel Sonntag and Celena White, Assistant Principal Destanie Ochs said. Both Sonntag and White are great additions to the administrative team, she added.
Each principal has to run different departments, so it isn’t just one person running a single one, Ochs said. By having a team of administrators doing this, it relieves the team from dealing with stress and it allows them to work more collaboratively, she added.
The new assistant principals “are experts in certain departments that they’re over, which is beneficial for the entire campus,” Ochs said.
Assistant Principal Dawnell Sonntang oversees the master schedule and the science, visual performing arts, and campus safety departments, Sonntag said. Being in charge of many departments is a fun part of her job due to its diversity, she added.
“In some high schools, there’s one person in charge of discipline, there’s one person in charge of academics, and there’s one person in charge of leadership,” Sonntag said. “What I like here is that we all get a little bit of everything, so you don’t get bored.”
Sonntag initially wanted to be a child psychologist before she started working, Sonntag said. When she was a sophomore in college, she realized that she didn’t like the program she was in as there was a lot of research and less social interactions involved, she added.
“I decided to switch to something, and I had no idea on what I wanted to do,” Sonntag said. “I was thinking about being a social worker, being a marriage and family therapist, and I took a class that was a sociology of education.”
The class that she took inspired her to major in education, she added. Her newfound passion led her to be a teacher for nine years and an administrator for 21 years.
“Part of it was a seminar, and you’re placed in a classroom at a high school or elementary school,” Sonntag said. “I was placed in a ninth grade English classroom, and I loved it. After that, I decided, ‘That’s what I want to be.’ I wanted to be a teacher.”
Sonntag’s former teaching and administrative experience influenced her to take an assistant principal role, she said. She decided to switch to experience being part of a larger team, she added.
“I was ready for change,” Sonntag said. “I wanted to do something different, and although I was a high school teacher, I’ve never been an administrator in high school. I thought that would be a fun change – to be one of those in charge.”
MHS’ larger student population and school spirit is something different compared to the schools that Sonntag has worked at before, Sonntag said.
“I was blown away by the homecoming decorations,” Sonntag said. “They were so creative. And I love that we have spirit days. All the kids that I’ve interacted with have been really nice. I have not had to deal with people being rude or disrespectful at all.”
Assistant Principal Celena White chose a job in education because she wanted to work with children, White said. She wanted to guide students that are growing up and going through different opportunities and challenges, she added.
Part of the reason she wanted to teach is “the experience I had with teachers growing up,” White said. “It was, for the most part, positive and I wanted to return the impact that they had on me onto other students.”
White worked as an English and ELD teacher in the East Side Union District for most of her education career, she said. That district is the only one that she’s been exposed to, she added.
“I wanted to get an idea of what other districts were like,” White said. “I also wanted to go into an assistant principal position just to see what kind of impact that could have (on the school).”
White oversees the PE and English departments, and helps with the student bank, English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC) and AP testing, she said. This year, White aims to better understand how AP testing works, as it is her first time running a section such as this, she added.
“We (administration) started prepping for the testing,” White said. “I know that’s a big task to take on, especially organizing space for it and making sure all students purchase their tests.”
So far, White’s time on MHS has been positive, she said. Her administration experience enabled her to interact with more people involved in the school, she added.
“When I was a teacher, we had our English department team, and we met as a whole school,” White said. “Now, it’s a little bit different. I get to have a better understanding of all the different roles and positions that people play and how they also contribute to supporting our students.”
Administration’s team chemistry with the new principals is both collaborative and positive, Ochs said. Ochs has also noticed that Sonntag and White are working well with other people on campus, she said.
“They fit in really well with the school,” Ochs said. “I think they’re enjoying their time here. I think everybody that I’ve seen has good relationships; they’re building a positive relationship with the staff, the students, and the families.”
