Point of You - End of Year Interview with Principal Downey

Caleb Smith, Dhruv Singh, Suhani Mahajan

In this episode, we interviewed Principal Downey, reflecting on the past school year and touching on hopes he has for the future. Listen on Spotify or Apple Music.

Caleb Smith: Hello, and welcome to point of view, where we give, students are placed to listen, learn and lean in. I'm your host, Caleb Smith. And today we are with our principal Mr. Downey, as we wrap up the year.

Mr. Downey: Hey, Caleb, happy to be back with you guys.

Caleb Smith: We're so lucky to have you. We just got a couple questions for you. We can start off here, how as your year been since last year? And how do you feel about these differences that we've had?

Mr. Downey: Wow, this certainly has been a unique year for all the obvious reasons, you know, the, the first semester, I will say was probably one of the most difficult semesters that I've had as a principal, this is my eighth year in this role. Coming into this year, I think we all had some expectations about what the year was going to be like. And it was a lot harder than I think we all thought it was going to be. I think the students, the staff, the parents, certainly myself, we were all fired up for, to kind of quote unquote, get back to normal, but I think we all forgot how hard the normal can be.

Caleb Smith: Absolutely.

Mr. Downey: And there were some situations in the fall semester that as a principal, you know, I pride myself on problem solving and making things better for the kids in our community. And there were just a couple of situations that I wasn't able to resolve and make the situation better. So that was hard and frustrating. But on a positive sense. You know, as difficult as this, this, the fall semester was, I think the spring semester has been so much better. Yeah, I think we all kind of got back into the routine of doing school again. And in the spring, that's kind of when we start celebrating our seniors, and start doing a lot more quote unquote, fun things. So, it was great to have those things back on the calendar and great to see our kids enjoying school again.

Caleb Smith: Absolutely, I definitely agree with that. It feels good to be back after, you know, 2020 and then a little bit into 2021. I was kind of scared that we weren't going to come back. But I'm glad we got to go this full year absolutely got to live. Absolutely. I know, I feel so bad for the past couple of seniors that didn't get to experience you know, the graduation and prom and that sort of thing. But I'm very grateful that we've gotten this far. So I'm just, that's just where I'm at right now. But for our next question, what are some accomplishments, accomplishments from this year that you're proud of?

Mr. Downey: You know, the, it's almost too early to look at reflect back on that, because we're several weeks away of kind of getting to that milestone of graduation. But I'm going to predict that we're looking back on this year that especially in the second semester, that we were able to provide some experiences to our kids outside the classroom. Yeah, as well as inside the classroom. You know, and that's what was missing over the last two, two plus years. For all of our students. You know, high school is not just the academic experience. It's just it's not just what happens in between the bells. That's certainly a big part of it. But really, it's the whole experience that our kids have been missing out on that the spring semester, we were able to bring back bring back. Our seniors got to do some fun experiences and get out of the building. I'm fired up for prom, at Mercedes Benz. Yeah, you know that. That should be a great night. And we were able to do Titan fest again, right before spring break. Just to kind of, you know, get our kids to, you know, not just experienced the stressors of school, but to experience the fun parts. So that's probably what I look back on and feel the best about is that we're able to bring some joy back into the building.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, it feels good to have all these events back. It's been a minute, we only got to as seniors, we only got to experience Titan Fest one time. So, it's been it's good to have it back. It was awesome. What was your favorite event of this year?

Mr. Downey: That's a great question. You know, the favorite event, you know, it's international night, every year is always going to be a highlight. So that was a fun night getting to see the kids showcase their talents on the stage.

Caleb Smith: Were you at A show or B show?

Mr. Downey: You always go to the B show. That's a no brainer. But the joy for me is that as principal I don't need a ticket. I can just kind of walk in and walk right in. I always try to make the B show because that's the one that has the high energy definitely and the crowds into it. So that's always a highlight because again, that that kind of what I said to earlier, there's so much more about the high school experience than just the classroom stuff. So, getting to showcase our kids and celebrating our kids. That's always a highlight. You know, and we haven't hit prom yet. But I suspect prom is going to be another highlight. You know, we really haven't had a full prom experience in several years, as you spoke to earlier, especially our senior class. You know, the junior class, they always have next year, senior class, this is it, and they haven't had one. And we're having it at Mercedes Benz. So, I think that's just going to be a neat and different experience. So, I think that's going to be a highlight. And then of course, every year, a highlight is the graduation ceremony. Because that's just the culmination of 12 years, and of education of our kids and certainly our four years together. That's always a cool, cool event.

Caleb Smith: Absolutely. Well, we were talking about Titan Fest, what was Titan Fest for you this year? What was it like for you?

Mr. Downey: It was you know, what I did a lot of just sitting back and watching kids. I mean, you really that that, to me was kind of that earmark moment of just fun. Right? School is hard. You know, most of our kids take a challenging course load. So, it's hard. It's hard being a student. For our seniors getting at that time a year spring break, kind of the college application process is pretty much done. And most of the kids have a good idea of what they're doing next year. Our underclassmen haven't experienced much of anything. You know, you said the senior class was the only class that ever had a Titan Fest. So, the 9th 10th and 11th graders never even knew what it was. So just seeing the kids play. And having fun goofing off being silly. So, I just sat back kind of watched it, you know. So that was reward in and of itself. Just seeing the kids have fun.

Caleb Smith: Awesome. Did you end up watching Carrie this year?

Mr. Downey: I did!

Caleb Smith: What was your favorite part?

Mr. Downey: So, I went to the Sunday matinee show. So, a couple of things that struck me, first of all, the talent level of our kids performing was really just, I shouldn't be surprised. But I'm always surprised about how talented our kids are. So that was great to see. I was not fully prepared for the script. So, kind of some of the language was like, Oh, wow. But it was, you're applauding it and you're cheering it makes sense that the kids are doing such a great job. But you know, the most surprising thing to me was that I got so caught up in the story, that seeing the character of Carrie go through what she went through in terms of the harassment, bullying, kind of picking on her, like my heart was in the character. Yeah, so in that climactic prom scene where like, all hell breaks loose, you know, and then at the very end, when her mom ends up stabbing her like, I was tear, I was teared up. I got it. I was emotionally invested in Carrie. I knew the story. I knew how it was gonna go. But the kids did such a great job in the performance that I got emotionally invested in her. So, it was a little gut wrenching to go through that ending. So that's what caught me off guard. I didn't expect to have that emotional response. But that's the beauty of the art. Is that it? It brings out that emotion in you. And that's why we experience it.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, I didn't get the pleasure of getting to see Carrie, but I actually really regret it. Because by what you just said and what other people have said it's been an amazing performance. So, I wish I could have made it. For our next question. How was your time at international night this year, specifically back to when we were talking about our events?

Mr. Downey: You know, again, as I said with the Titan Fest, just seeing people smile. You know, we- having lived through the last two, half, three, two plus years now whatever it's been- it's just, it has been hard on everybody. So, there hasn't been a lot of joy. Yeah. And then on top of it, everyone has been wearing masks. Yeah. So, you miss you don't you didn't we didn't realize going through it. But certainly, I appreciate now just seeing people's facial expressions. And in this case of joy and fun and laughter. You know, you know the two years leading up to this, have just been hard. So, there hasn't been a lot of smiling. So international night again, just kind of like Titan fest. It was a chance to see our kids in this case also our community our parents just being joyful. Yeah. and celebrating each other.

Caleb Smith: Celebrate all the cultures and the diversity.

Mr. Downey: Yes, absolutely. And there's no doubt eating that food is a highlight. That's a big treat. And then again, kind of like Carrie, you see seeing our kids perform on stage and showcasing their talents. You're always like, wow, I didn't know that kid could do that.

Caleb Smith: That's surprised me. You know, that’s a great event. What homecoming or prom theme would you like to see this year that we haven't done before?

Mr. Downey: A prom or homecoming theme? Yeah. Geez? That's a tough question.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, cuz we've had I know, we've had like, I think it was Marvel couple years ago, and then Star Wars for prom. So that sort of thing. Like any like, special. You know.

Mr. Downey: I don't think I have one. Because it's not about what I want. All right. Part of my job is to try and provide experiences that the kids want. Yeah. So, you know, that's my safe defer to that question is, you know what, because what's fun to me might not be fun to a teenager now. You know, I graduated high school 30 some odd years ago. So, it's, you know, I'm turning 50 this year, so I can't deny that. I don't know if applause is necessary or just getting old. But I say that in a fun way. And, you know, I'm starting to feel a little bit of that disconnect with what kids like today versus, you know, 10 years ago, 20 years ago, when I was a little more closer to it. So, you know, I'm gonna run and celebrate whatever the kids want to do.

Caleb Smith: Absolutely. I love that response. Well, what kind of music have you been listening to? Or any new artists? Have you been listening to?

Mr. Downey: You know, the, I just had this conversation with my wife. Because I have, I'm always a Dave Matthews fan. I always have been, but I've sort of rediscovered some other jam bands. And I had been hooked on OAR right now. And I'm gonna be buying tickets too. They have a show at the Roxy in July in downtown Atlanta that I'm gonna go to. So, it's, you know, fish. Dave Matthews. I've kind of just gotten back into these jam bands that I've rediscovered, and it's not new music necessarily. But I've kind of fallen in love with it again.

Caleb Smith: So, you see, listen to it in the past, and then now.

Mr. Downey: Yeah, exactly!

Caleb Smith: Gotcha. Gotcha. What is your favorite Taylor Swift song?

Mr. Downey: I guess the standard answer. Can you go wrong for any of them? But then I'm supposed to be able to name some Taylor Swift songs that I might get stuck with. My daughter's 12. You know, she'll be able to rattle off the Taylor Swift songs. Much better than me. You know, as much as I joked about some of the bands. I like to listen to kids at home. Yeah. And they insist on Dad changing the music. Whenever I'm playing my songs, it usually ends up with like, Imagine Dragons or Taylor Swift or something.

Caleb Smith: Because I remember in like our first interview, we were talking, I think about music. And you said you were a Swiftie. And then that kind of threw everybody off. So, you had to bring it back. See? Yeah, so no favorites right now. No favorites right now with the songs?

Mr. Downey: No, I can’t name any right now. I've been stuck on my jam band music.

Caleb Smith: I got you. I got you. No, no worries about that one. If you're a student and Northview, which classes would you wish to take?

Mr. Downey: Wow. That's another great question. You know usually what I have found through my experience, it's less about the content and more about the person leading the class. Yeah, I guess so. There's, you know, my backgrounds in biology. So, I'm sure that if I was a student in at Northview, I'd probably gravitate to Mr. Morgan's health science classes. That pathway. Yeah. I'm also a huge soccer fan. So no, I would love to be a student in his class and talk soccer and talk.

Caleb Smith: You played when you were younger?

Mr. Downey: I did.

Caleb Smith: I remember that.

Mr. Downey: Yeah. I grew up playing soccer. And then I coached the high school team for 16 years. Wow. So, I miss being involved with that. And I'm now coaching my son's U-10 team. So, it's got me connected. Yeah. So certainly, Mr. Morgan's class would probably intrigue me. You know, Mr. Rollins? 12th grade lit class, you know, the that's a hard class, but coming out of that class The kids really grow. So that would probably, you know, writing and communicating is always an essential skill to be successful no matter what you do. So that class would intrigue me. You know, I’d probably suffer through that class like every other senior who takes that I would probably not take Bombards calculus class. And that's not a comment on Coach Bombard. Calculus, I struggled with calculus, I probably would avoid that class. What else is out there? Let's think, you know, rattle off some and I'll tell you if I would have dove into them.

Caleb Smith: Like science wise, or forensics, maybe biology or you said biology right.

Mr. Downey: Yeah. So yeah, I would definitely be taking those you know, I'd be intrigued by Mr. Kemp's physics class. Yeah, Physics I kind of struggled with physics, a little bit in college. But I think he's just a great teacher. So, I think his class I probably could have benefited from.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, definitely.

Mr. Downey: You know, so certainly, in the sciences, I'd probably eat up just about every science class we have out there.

Caleb Smith: Gotcha. I think we got a general sense of what kind of classes are little bit hard and a little bit too easy in there. What aspect of Northview as a whole, would you say is your favorite?

Mr. Downey: No doubt the kids know, the, you know, the working with kids is a joy. Working with adults, is a little bit harder. Yeah. But our student body, I put our I put our student body up against any other high school in the country, you know, we Northview gets some really high national accolades and state level accolades for our, for our achievement. And it's certainly in no small part to our teaching staff. But really, at the end of the day, it's our students that come into this building every day that embrace being students, and everything that comes with it, you know, the vast majority of our kids, you know, they want to be successful. So, they're here every day to be successful. And then they're here to be involved. The fact that you guys are even sitting here doing this podcast reflects our students in general. Like, they kind of take that extra step, to do one more thing to make their own experience in school, a good one. So, when I get to share in that time, and have moments like this, where we can have a conversation, and interact with our kids on any level, I mean, that's, that just brings joy to my day. It's certainly my job, you know, and I've said this 1000 times, I got one of the best educational jobs in the country, I get paid to come to Northview every day and hang out with these kids every day. Yeah, it's pretty good gig.

Caleb Smith: Well, we love you as our principal. Thank you. What are your hopes for next year? Are there any changes in the upcoming year?

Mr. Downey: You know, next year, you know, I'm certainly hoping that unlike this fall, when we had to make that transition back into school full time that, you know, our kids already have this full year under the belt, you know, that we're back into that routine with deadlines. Yeah, and that's been our struggle this year with our students, I think, has been kind of that idea of staying on top of our deadline, because we've through COVID, we've given everyone that grace. And, you know, we've not been tight on handing things in on time. So, like, right now, we sweat out the end of the year, because some kids are, are on paper failing classes, when really, it's just because they have a zero and they haven't turned something in that they just need to get done and turn in. So, like, we're anxious as administrators, and we're chasing kids, when they just, if we had turned this in on time, we wouldn't be sweating this time a year. So, I'm hoping that that gets behind us. And then, you know, we have every year at this time, we, you know, we we're hiring some new teachers. So, we always want to make sure we get that right. And we're not going to be right 100% of the time, but we certainly want to be right as close to 100% of the time so that our kids have great teachers in front of them. Yeah. And then we, you know, we plan next year to have all those great events for our kids to enjoy. What I didn't get to this year, which I want to get back to. It’s up on my whiteboard right now. Even though you might not be able to read my shorthand, but I had SAC, which is a student advisory council, you know, to create a committee of kids that represent the school that we meet with on a regular basis, that kind of keep me in touch with what's working and what what's not working? Yeah, you know, I want our kids to have a voice and you know, if something's not going right, that they have an avenue and a voice to make things better.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, I'd like to kind of the connection between like, like, how there's a gap between you and the students and to kind of bridge the gap.

Mr. Downey: Yeah, yeah. So, you know, it's not, you know, you know, through the journalism class, I'm in that class a lot. And that's an opportunity to have a little bit of a dialogue. But, you know, trying to find ways to have or processes to have more of those dialogues with kids.

Caleb Smith: Gotcha. For a final question, what are your plans for this summer?

Mr. Downey: Well, it's interesting this summer, professionally, we're getting kicked out of our building here, we have all this construction going on. Right. So, one of the summer projects that's going to happen is that they are upgrading our fire safety system, which means that once they turn that off, we're not allowed to occupy the building. So professionally for the summer, I'm going to be hanging out at Chattahoochee High School.

Caleb Smith: Really?

Mr. Downey: Yep, I got to set up offices over there for the summer. And really, the summer is really about just planning for next year. So, in the month of June, the administrative team will still be working full-time. So, it's all about planning for next year. And then July is the first two weeks of July usually pretty quiet. And that's usually when I'll take a little vacation time via that July 4 Week is a real quiet week, because obviously everyone's on vacation. So usually, I tried to get away then as well. What's interesting this summer on a personal note is that both of my kids will be at overnight camp for four weeks. Oh, wow. So it'd be the first time that my wife and I will be kind of staring at each other that we don't got kids to chase around and shuffle around and drive around. Yeah. So, you know, we're gonna plan some, some fun things for us. So really, it's just taking a couple weeks off to kind of recharge and get ready to tackle the tackle the new year.

Caleb Smith: That’s awesome. Yeah, well, we're excited. I mean, we won't be here that kind of experience it but that's alright.

Mr. Downey: We'll be off to bigger and better things. Yeah, all of our seniors, you know, you guys where you know, your lives are just beginning at this point. You know, you'll just be stepping out of that literally and figuratively, figuratively stepping out of the house, stepping out from mom and dad, and kind of on your own. And, like, the fun parts of life are just beginning to start for you guys.

Caleb Smith: Yeah, we're thankful for the uh you know, the lessons that we've learned here. You know, we'll take it with us into wherever we go after this. But you know, that's all the time we have for today. We thank you so much for your time and support this year. This concludes our episode. Thank you so much for listening. For a transcript of this episode, head to the point of view tab on our website, NHS messenger.org. And follow us on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook @nhspointofview for more updates and new episodes. I'm your host Caleb Smith and this has been:

Mr. Downey: Brian Downey, it's a joy to join you guys.

Caleb Smith: And this has been Point of View.