The ultimate Lincoln Crazie will sadly be leaving LHS after the school year, principal Val Fox. Fox began her time at LHS as the assistant principal in 1999 and held this position for four years. She then transitioned to head principal.

Holding a position at LHS through two centuries, three decades and almost 20 years, Fox has seen changes in many aspects of the school. She has witnessed changes in her own managing styles of LHS, amount of students and even family situations. The largest change Fox has seen is the amount of students who open enroll to LHS for academics, athletics and just to come to such as amazing school.

“Open-enrollment has changed our school a lot,” said Fox. “We have of each incoming ninth grade class, one third to one half of each class is open enrolled. We have a lot of kids open enrolling for the programing. That’s been fun to watch.”

Although there are changes, there has also been aspects that have never changed about LHS, such as our tradition of excellence. Fox gives tours of the building to LHS alumni who are eager to find out if LHS has upkept their academic achievements. The answer Fox gives is always the same; LHS has never wavered in academic strengths.

“The things that have never changed, from the beginning till now, are we’ve had awesome teachers and awesome kids who really want to do well,” said Fox. “The academics here are top notch. The ACT scores are awesome. The AP scores are awesome. That has not changed.”

However, no matter how good LHS AP scores are, this cannot persuade principal Fox to stay. Everyone knows that all good things must come to an end, so Fox will be retiring after the 2016-2017 school year. This decision did not come without struggles, though. Fox loves who she works for and with but has decided this is the year she will leave.

“I love the superintendent that I’m working for; he’s just really a great guy to work with,” said Fox. “I wanted to make sure things transitioned really well and I just liked what I was doing. I kept thinking in the back of my mind ‘What are you going to do after this?’ So this year was the year I just started thinking ‘well this is maybe the year.’”

LHS has left a lasting impression on Fox. She has learned more about her faculty and much more about the students as she has seen them grow.

“In watching students and how they interact and how they grow up, it’s changed me for the better,” said Fox. “The thing that’s imprinted on me is just how hard it is to grown up. I think I’ve become a better person in having a little more empathy and sympathy for the situations that are going on.”

After her retirement Fox plans on traveling to visit friends and family in Illinois and North and South Carolina. Students may see her collecting tickets at sporting events or sitting in the crowd of an LHS band concert; however, she has made it very clear she will not be a substitute teacher. Fox will stay involved in LHS, something she cannot let go of as it is now apart of her. Fox also will continue to stay around LHS for the transition to the new principal. She even already has already come up with some tips to help them in the transition.

“First thing I would say is be supportive and get involved in all of our activities that support the school, in other words all of the music programs, the drama, the oral interp and the debate,” said Fox. “Those are all what I call supportive programs and that’s what makes this school great. We’re always going to have great tennis players and golf and football but those other supportive activities really make this school great. I would tell whoever comes in to pay attention to those and support them 100 percent.”

Fox believes that the transition to the new principal will not be hard for students or teachers and that LHS will not miss a beat. She also knows that LHS will continue on it’s strong course and keep winning the KELO cup each year. However, Fox will greatly miss LHS and it will be hard to say goodbye.

“I’m going to miss being here,” said Fox. “Those last few weeks if somebody cries, I’ll cry. It’s a part of me. It’s been fun and I love being here.”