Plymouth High School is proud to announce that Assistant Principal Ken Olson has been chosen as the IASP District 2 Assistant Principal of the Year! The acronym IASP stands for the Indiana Association of School Principals. Olson was nominated by his district peers for the award. To be nominated for this award, the candidate must not only be tremendously involved in school leadership, but also in the community. He/she must also help in ensuring a positive school climate, which reflects high morale for both students and staff. District ll is made up of the following Michiana counties: LaPorte, St. Joseph, Elkhart, Starke, Marshall, Kosciusko, Pulaski, and Fulton.
The Hoosier state is divided into 12 IASP districts. The district winners will then be submitted to the state selection committee for consideration for Indiana Assistant Principal of the Year. The IASP Assistant Principal for the state of Indiana winner will be announced at the IASP Fall Professional Conference and banquet that will be held this fall in Indianapolis.
This isn’t the first time an administrator at Plymouth schools has received recognition by the Indiana Association of School Principals. Plymouth High School Assistant Principal Kyle Coffman was named the IASP District 2 Assistant Principal of the Year last April. PHS Principal Jim Condon was named the District 2 Principal of the year, as well as the Indiana High School Principal of the Year in 2014.
Olson has worked for Plymouth schools for the past eight years – serving in two capacities. He started in July of 2010 as the Dean of Students and was then named the director for Weidner School of Inquiry @ PHS in December of that year; a position he held until May of 2013 while continuing to serve as Dean of Students. He currently is one of the four assistant principals at Plymouth High School.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in business management from Valparaiso University and a Masters in Education from Bethel College. He earned his teaching credentials in social studies from Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne and his business teaching credentials come from Grace College.
Prior to his arrival at Plymouth schools he taught for nine years (2001-2010) at Bremen High School in the business and social studies departments. Prior to that Olson was a teacher for one year at Warsaw Community Schools. Since 2014 he has been a proud member of the Leadership Marshall County Board.
Upon finding out that he was named the IASP District 2 Assistant Principal of the Year, Olson said, “I am very humbled by this honor and thankful for Mr. Condon nominating me. We have a great administration team at Plymouth High School and it easily could have been any one of the four of us who are designated as assistants that could have received this honor. I feel fortunate that I get to come to work each day with an incredible staff and administration team. I am privileged to work with students who are willing to take chances and push themselves to be the best that they can, even when sometimes they don’t realize that potential on the timeline that we as educators would like. I always believe that they will, on their timeline, find a way to grow to their potential- if we can just keep helping them grow.”
The administration at Plymouth Community School Corporation and Plymouth High School congratulate Ken Olson on this outstanding recognition and wish him the best of luck in the selection process for the State of Indiana Assistant Principal of the Year.
For more information on the IASP, visit the following website: www.iasp.org.
