MASON — Loving a job can often make for a productive work environment.

And this is certainly the case for Kenny Bond, Wahama High School principal. This is Bond’s first year as principal of WHS, and he described his job as being both enjoyable and fulfilling.

Prior to becoming principal, Bond served as WHS assistant principal for the 2008-2009 school year. Before getting into the administration side of education, Bond worked as the band director at WHS for 11 years. He also was the middle school band director at Meigs High School for two years and the high school band director at Gallia Academy High School for five years.

Although music is one of Bond’s passions, he described the move to administration as being fulfilling.

“I wanted to effect more education and more kids then just the ones in my bands — folks suggested to me that I might be good at it,” Bond said.

According to Bond, he became interested in education during his time in school at WHS.

“I was in the band and choir at Wahama High School and found out that I could get money to go to college for playing the drums and singing. The band director, Chuck Yeago, encouraged me to concentrate on music education as a career,” he said. “I went to college for two years, ran out of money and joined the Air Force for four years and then came back to Marshall University to finish my degree,” he said, adding that he later got his masters degree in leadership studies from Marshall in the spring of 2008.

While school has only been in session for a few weeks, Bond described the year as going very well so far.

“It’s been terrific — a very good beginning to the school year,” he said. “The teachers seem to like the educational direction and that’s a great thing. It’s good for the teachers to be excited about coming to school and it’s good for the kids.”

According to Bond, his job is very interesting because of the many different aspects it entails. However, he described interacting with all classrooms as the most interesting part of being school principal.

“Going into the different classrooms and seeing all the different manners of instruction being done by the wonderful staff is interesting,” he said. “The kids are excited about learning again, and it’s a really neat thing to see the kids on fire about education.”

He added that when he was a teacher his focus needed to be his curriculum and classes, and that as principal he enjoys getting to work with and see all aspects of the school. As for his favorite aspect of the job, Bond said that he enjoys working with the faculty and students.

“(My favorite part is) interacting with all the teachers and students — that’s something that I didn’t get to do as a teacher — and I like interacting in ways that I hope are beneficial to them,” he said.

According to Bond, the major difference between being teacher and principal is the way he views the school.

“(As principal) I am learning to look at the school as a whole, and the fact that you are regulating the whole thing as opposed to being responsible for your program is different from being a teacher,” he said. “When I was a teacher I always wondered what it was that the principal did all day. There seemed to be no structure to the job, and now I know that having no real structure is necessary — there are so many hats that you have to wear, like personal manager, building and grounds manager and you are an almost pseudo law enforcement because you enforce the rules and policies for the faculty and staff.”

Although Bond enjoys being principal, he said that the job does have some difficult aspects, and attributed the large amount of paperwork involved as being the hardest part of his job.

“There’s a lot of demands put on your time…I spend most of my time out in the classrooms with teachers and the kids to make sure that what we are doing in the classes is done well. I despise sitting behind a desk all day — I’d much rather be out and about,” Bond said, adding that he often works in the evening to finish paperwork.

Bond’s day certainly is busy. He begins each work day at 7 a.m. and takes a tour of the school building to make sure everything is satisfactory before the students arrive. According to Bond, he likes to greet students at the front door as they enter the building. Bond also has several meetings that he is required to attend as principal.

In addition, Bond tries to attend the school’s band, choir and athletic events. In fact, he described instilling a sense of pride in both the students and faculty as being important to him.

“Mrs. VanMeter (assistant principal at WHS) and I have really worked hard at trying to raise student and faculty pride, and it seems to be working,” Bond said, adding that to help with pride, both teachers and students wear red on Fridays.

In addition, Bond said that the school recently had their first pep rally in several years. He described the rally as well as other attempts to instill school pride as being very successful.

“Improving the teachers and students sense of pride in the school is important. When they drive down the road I want them to be like ‘that’s our school,’ and I’d like the community to do this as well,” he said. “Community pride has always been one of the outstanding traits at Wahama High School and that had been slipping away, but I hope to change that. It is really important for the kids to feel a sense of ownership.”

Bond described his other goal as WHS principal as to improve the education that is being taught at the school.

Although Bond has not been the WHS principal for very long, he said that he has already formed several great memories. However, he described one of the first days of school as being particularly memorable.

“On our second day of school I had four teachers come to me and Mrs. VanMeter and tell us how great the beginning of school was and said that they used to dread coming to school and that they don’t anymore,” he said. “If I can walk out of here when I retire and folks that have come through (the school) feel that they’ve been given a good educational experience, I’ll be a happy guy.”

Bond encouraged others to follow what he advises his students and teachers to do.

“A wise man once told me to be where you’re supposed to be, when you are supposed to be there and to do what you are supposed to be doing to the best of your abilities. If you follow these rules, the rest falls into place,” he said.

This is certainly one piece of advice that Bond has applied to his own life as he continues to work hard to ensure that both students and teachers receive the best experience at WHS possible.

(If you know someone who could be a potential candidate for an upcoming “Day in the Life” feature, e-mail his or her name and contact information to mdrnews@mydailyregister.com or call 304-675-1333.)

FAST FACTS

Name: Kenny Bond

Age: 47

Hometown: New Haven

Family: wife, Kim, and son, Anthony

Hobbies: golf, crossword puzzles