A new road for principal

By Tania Martin
A PASSION for learning and helping to mould young minds has won Margaret Uren the top job at Monbulk College.
Ms Uren took over the job of principal from Pam Glover more than eight weeks ago and said she has loved every moment.
In the past two year Ms Uren has proven herself in the top role as assistant principal at Vermont Secondary College and acting principal at Ferntree Gully College.
Ms Uren has had a passion for teaching since she was nine years old and that love of learning has continued to grow throughout her 30-year career.
She said taking on the top job at Monbulk College was a challenging and rewarding experience.
She said as the principal it was great to be able to help students work out what career paths they wanted to take.
Ms Uren said she was now looking forward to getting to know the Monbulk community better.
“We (Monbulk College) work together with a number of local community groups such as the CFA and I am hoping to get more involved in these groups,” she said.
Ms Uren said the highlight of her time so far has been the school winning a metropolitan newspaper award.
“It was really great recognition for us to get the award, especially with all the work the staff does with the students to help them further their education,” she said.
“We are really working hard to get students to transition into further education or to the workplace rather then see them dropping out of school.”
Ms Uren said it was also fantastic to see the school doing so well in sports such as volleyball and cross-country.
She said the best part of being a teacher and principal was the interaction with the students.
“Teaching is a two way street because the students teach you as well – you really do learn something new every day.”