By Claire Burnett and Maire Crooks, The Current Co-Editors in Chief
This school year, River Hill welcomes Mr. Robb and Mrs. Volinsky as their newest assistant principals after bidding farewell to Mr. Scible and Ms. Hearns.
Prior to being an assistant principal at River Hill, Mr. Robb worked in information technology (IT) for around 15 years. However, since he was a teen, he has worked with children in jails, addiction centers, and community centers. These past experiences led to Mr. Robb realizing that he wanted to transition to working in schools after losing interest in IT.
Mr. Robb described how he juggled a load of different responsibilities, commenting, “I was teaching at River Hill for ten years and at the same time, I was the principal of evening school and the principal of summer school, and I was teaching at Hopkins.” Mr. Robb recalled how his eventual leap to administration was “because I wanted to take my show on a bigger road.”
Mrs. Volinsky took a more traditional path when joining River Hill; she was an English teacher at Wilde Lake High School for almost 14 years before jumping to administration at Howard. After two and a half years, Mrs. Volinsky joined Mr. Motley, the current RHHS principal, at Atholton before accompanying him to River Hill, mentioning that “so far it’s been a great experience.”
Both of our new assistant principals have one main goal in mind: to get to know the students. Their primary method of doing so is spending time in the hallways during the school day despite the unpredictability of their schedules. Mrs. Volinsky articulated, “There isn’t anything that’s the same [day-to-day]. Things change…rapidly depending on what the students need and what’s going on in the building.” Regardless, she can always be found with her computer cart throughout the building before her meetings later in the day. Similarly, Mr. Robb finds time during his busy schedule to monitor the cafeteria during lunch shifts and hopes that students are able to see him as a friendly, approachable face. As he stated, he wants “to get back to the fabric of who River Hill is and to get to know the students.”
In addition to traversing the halls, the new administrative team is making an effort to get involved in school activities. Mrs. Volinsky remarked that she attended the first girls’ volleyball game of the season, which was “amazing to see.” Mr. Robb looks forward to a homecoming season full of activities and school spirit.
Overall, both Mr. Robb and Mrs. Volinsky are thrilled to be at River Hill. As Mr. Robb puts it, “I’m very, very excited to be at River Hill and to feel the culture again. It just feels like I’m home.”