{"id":4035,"date":"2024-09-17T10:59:32","date_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:59:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/?p=4035"},"modified":"2024-09-17T10:59:32","modified_gmt":"2024-09-17T14:59:32","slug":"river-hills-new-principal-dr-difato","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/river-hills-new-principal-dr-difato\/","title":{"rendered":"River Hill\u2019s New Principal: Dr DiFato"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Connor Hawthorne, Co-Editor in Chief<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past four years, River Hill has had three different principals. For many students, the lack of consistency has caused them to feel a sense of detachment. As students come back to school, our new principal Dr. DiFato aims to change this and connect with the student community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A River Hill veteran, Dr. DiFato worked as a teacher here at River Hill for eight years. During that time he taught \u201call different levels of history and psychology.\u201d When he was a teacher at River Hill, Dr. DiFato was determined to \u201cget as involved as [he] could.\u201d As a teacher he was the SGA sponsor and coached a multitude of different sports, from lacrosse and field hockey to cross country. He recounts that the most rewarding experience was \u201cseeing the students grow in the classroom but also outside the classroom.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After working at River Hill High School, Dr. DiFato worked as assistant principal at both Hammond and Reservoir High Schools. When he got the call that he was coming back to River Hill, \u201cit was exciting,\u201d yet not something that he \u201chad mapped out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having been gone for six years, Dr. Difato is aware that \u201cthe River Hill I\u2019m coming into is not the one I left.\u201d Since that time, River Hill has experienced redistricting, Covid and a high level of staff turnover. Despite this, Dr. DiFato explains that \u201cthe community, staff and students are all still great.\u201d One of his goals this year is to figure out what’s different, and work to help the \u201cstaff students and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As principal, the ethos of Dr. DiFato\u2019s mission is to embody and encourage a \u201cgrowth mindset\u201d among the students and staff here at River Hill. He explains how \u201ceven the smartest students can learn more and the best teachers become better.\u201d He aims to encourage students and staff to find ways they can improve and grow this school year with the focus being on \u201cstrong rigorous instruction in the classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key role of education is to prepare students for when they graduate. This year, Dr. DiFato is determined to ensure that students \u201cknow what their opportunities are post high school.\u201d He explains how \u201cnot everyone will attend a four year college\u201d and part of his job as principal is helping students prepare for when they graduate, whatever that path may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. DiFato values connection with the student body as well. Having been away from River Hill for 6 years, there are obviously a lot of new faces among both the students and staff. Dr. DiFato describes how he\u2019d  \u201cforgotten what it’s like to walk into the building and not know anyone\u201d and was \u201cso used to talking to students.\u201d Dr. DiFato is motivated to get to know the student body and explains how \u201cMy doors always open, I’m happy to talk to any student about what’s going on and what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, a concern of Dr. Difato is helping students find balance in their lives. He explains how here at River Hill \u201cwe have a lot of really dedicated students\u201d and \u201chelping our students find balance is really important.\u201d Dr. DiFato practices what he preaches and recounts how \u201cI try to start my day with a run and clear my head for the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A seasoned educator, Dr. DiFato is ready to get to know the amazing students here and River Hill and is excited to work as our principal this year. His advice for students this year is simple, \u201c\u201cDevelop a growth mindset and work to find balance.\u201d Dr. DiFato looks forward to connecting with the students and helping them grow this year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Connor Hawthorne, Co-Editor in Chief Over the past four years, River Hill has had three different principals. For many students, the lack of consistency has caused them to feel a sense of detachment. As students come back to school, our new principal Dr. DiFato aims to change this and connect with the student community….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":4037,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1015,280,31,286,269,211,285],"class_list":["post-4035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dr-difato","tag-feature","tag-interview","tag-journalism","tag-rhhs","tag-river-hill","tag-river-hill-high-school"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Dr-DiFato.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4035"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4040,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4035\/revisions\/4040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/riverhillcurrent.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}