“I’m incredibly proud to be the principal of Waterford High School,” Kirk Samuelson says.
On March 1st, 2016, Samuelson became an assistant principal for Waterford, before moving up to principal in 2022.
Samuelson says, “As much as I loved teaching in the classroom, I realized that my impact was only to the students sitting in front of me, whereas if I became an administrator [I’d] be able to hit the student body as a whole and be an advocate for all students.”
“It was just a matter of time and finding the right “fit” and I knew I found that here in Waterford when I was hired six years ago as an assistant principal.”
Mr. Samuelson had more suspensions than he did A’s in high school. He would do things to get himself suspended because he would fool around and didn’t value the time he had in class.
In his high school, the In-School Suspension (ISS) monitor was also the football coach, who he had a good relationship with due to playing football. The ISS room was the only room, other than the administrative office, that was air conditioned, so on those hot days closer to summer, instead of being in the hot classrooms, he found that if he got suspended, he would be able to sit in the air conditioned rooms, chatting with his football coach.
Growing up in Branford, Connecticut, his plan was not to become the principal of Waterford High School. He originally attended Roger Williams University and received a Bachelors of Science degree in Marine Biology.
Right out of college, Samuelson had no clue what to do with his science degree. He pursued a job as a General Manager at Donovan’s Reef Restaurant in Branford for five years before becoming a biology teacher at Guilford High School for eight years.
Samuelson describes his most memorable experience as our principal as being “the dunk tank at our recent Kick-Off Carnival. It wasn’t something I was originally on-board with, but I got a lot of joy out of it. I thought the whole carnival and just the way to kick start the year was great.”
He thinks this year has been the best school opening he has ever had in the 20+ years he’s been working in education.
For the upcoming years, Samuelson wants to maintain a small enough school that students are able to have a relationship with the staff, yet big enough to offer all the sports programs, music programs, drama programs, extra curricular activities and clubs.
Samuelson says, “My goal is to make this a model school for every school in the state. I want Waterford to be looked at as the school that everyone else wants to be.”
The four things that make a high school “elite” in Samuelson’s eyes are being a safe school, having a positive school climate, holding high expectations, and accountability. Those are the things Samuelson strives to make of our school.
Samuelson describes a challenge of his is trying to make everyone happy. Every decision he makes is in the best interest of the students and staff.
Samuelson says “When there are decisions being made.. Not everybody has the same information I have. Individuals may not understand why the decision was made but there’s usually a lot more that goes into it.”
A change that began this school year was the cellphone policy. Students are told to put their phones in a caddy, so they don’t feel obligated to keep checking their phones and getting distracted.
“I believe it’s a positive change,” Samuelson adds, “For me to go into classrooms now, I see a lot more interaction in student discourse than I did before.”
Going into this change, he knew students weren’t going to be happy, as he has two kids who are teenagers with cell phones. Still, he wants students to understand that high school is a learning institution.
Samuelson’s message to the students is to “Find your ‘why?’ and get involved in whatever that may be. “Use your high school experience to try things that you normally wouldn’t or to push yourself to go outside your comfort zone.”
