Principal 's job fulfills dream

An educator is all Grovetown High School Principal Penny Jackson ever wanted to be.

"When I was little, I would set up my Barbie dolls and stuffed animals and hold class," she recalled.

She believes she inherited her love for teaching from her father, Tommy Weems, who never taught in a traditional school setting.

"He taught military science in the Air Force and also trained Secret Service agents," Mrs. Jackson said.

It was her husband, Evans High football coach Marty Jackson, who led the Alabama native to start her career in the Augusta area.

"He told me that if I found a job in Georgia, we'd get married," Mrs. Jackson said. "So I started looking and got a job at East Augusta Middle School."

After a brief stint at Hephzibah High, she landed an assistant principal's job and taught biology at Aquinas High School.

Later, she went back to the classroom to teach biology at Greenbrier High, where she again became an assistant principal.

"I wish every administrator would go back into the classroom from time to time," Mrs. Jackson said. "It puts you so much more in touch with what's going on."

In March 2008, she was named principal at Grovetown High.

"It's been kind of a whirlwind getting everything ready," Mrs. Jackson said of heading up the county's newest high school, which opens today. "I'm so excited that we're at the point where we're ready for the kids."

A captain of her high school volleyball, basketball and cheerleading teams, Mrs. Jackson has also coached a number of sports during her 18-year career.

"To me, being a good principal is about being able to work with a wide variety of people," she said. "I was a teacher, so I know how to relate to them. I was a coach, so I also know how to relate to them."

Reach Donnie Fetter at (706) 868-1222, ext. 115, or donnie.fetter@augustachronicle.com.