As of Wednesday, Mar. 18, Smoky Hill’s new principal was announced. Charles Puga, currently the principal of Ponderosa High School, will be taking the place of Smoky’s current principal, Mr. Karr. Earlier this year, Mr. Karr announced that he is going to retire at the end of the 2014-2015 school year.

“First and foremost my goal is to build relationships and trust with the students, staff and community of Smoky Hill,” Puga said.

Puga is the current principal of Ponderosa High School. He has been their principal for nine years. Before that, Puga was a teacher, who taught in the social studies department for 15 years. He has also coached for girls tennis, football, track and field, and wrestling. According to Puga, his story on how he decided to become principal is long but he kept it short and meaningful when he told SmokyNow.com about why he decided to be a principal.

“I was at Highlands Ranch High School as an assistant principal and I used to teach at Ponderosa from 1992-1996 and my friend called me and said that the principal had just announced her retirement,” Puga said. “Funny thing is that the principal at Ponderosa at that time was from Smoky Hill. So I applied and went through the process and got the principal job at Ponderosa.”

According to Assistant Principal Karen Adler, the process begins at the district level.  The people who were chosen to be in the committee were teachers, parents, and students. There was a series of interviews from these committees; the interview questions were made by the executive director.

“On each committee I was careful to have representation for all of the departments,” Adler said. “We also had student and parent representation and on the district level there was district representation, too.”

This process lasted a while since there were different rotations through the different parts of the committees. But, Puga kept a high spirit through it all.

“We had 5 different 40-minute interview sessions,” Puga said. “It was a long day but all of the different sessions gave me an opportunity to get to know Smoky Hill better and gave the committees a chance to get to know the candidates well.”

He plans on making Smoky a better school when he takes his role as our new principal like any other principal would.

“I believe that Smoky Hill is an outstanding school, yet like every school in America it has room to improve,” Puga said. “I believe that I bring 26 years of experience as a teacher, coach, dean assistant principal, and principal to Smoky.”

Puga said he will start his new job around July 2015, but that he will also be visiting our school next week. He and one other candidate were in the top two of choices to send to the district to make the final decision.

“There was one committee that was a formal interview and it was focused on leadership and achievements,” Adler said. “There was also another committee that was a formal interview that one was focused on school climate, safety and culture.”

In this process each candidate had to give a presentation on how they will be a champion for Smoky Hill. The presentation had to be at least 20 minutes. The committee was looking at how the candidates were presenting their content and the way they presented it. Puga felt like the whole process was interesting.

“While I felt like all of the sessions were unique and addressed a specific piece of the puzzle,” Puga said. “I felt like the student tour and question and answer time was outstanding!”

Although Puga is still the principal at Ponderosa, he is excited to become a Buffalo.

“I am truly honored and humbled to be the new principal at Smoky Hill. When I saw that the position was open I was very excited at the possibility,” Puga said. “I did not apply anywhere else but Smoky and I am excited to be a Buff.”

In one of the sessions, the candidates had to answer a writing prompt about preparing their first presentation to the student body. Puga had something to say to SmokyNow.com about what he wants the school to know about him.

“I am excited to be the new principal,” Puga said. “I look forward to meeting everyone and immersing myself into Smoky Hill High School and our community. I want students, staff, and our community to be involved in and take pride in Smoky Hill. [I am] proud to be a Buff.”