Carey Christensen started working at Poudre High School as an athletic trainer 25 years ago.
Since then, she has worked as a paraprofessional, taught Spanish and physical education courses and served as an assistant principal and athletic director.
On July 1, she will take another step up – this time to the top as the sixth principal of a school that opened 60 years ago.
“I’m super excited,” Christensen said Tuesday. “I love our school; I love our culture and all the different options we have for our students – from our concurrent enrollment to the different pathways we have.”
Christensen replaces Kathy Mackay, who is stepping down after 11 years to become principal of an international high school in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Christensen said she hadn’t considered becoming a director until she heard Mackay was leaving and urged her to apply.
The previous four principals at Poudre, which opened in the fall of 1964, were Reid Pope (1964-85), Edgar Rice (1986-92), Sandra Lundt (1993-2009) and George Osborn (2009-13), according the school’s website.
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Poudre’s enrollment has dropped from 1,928 students in 2008-09 to 1,573 this past school year, according to annual enrollment data from the Colorado Department of Education. Maintaining the wide range of options available to students – from the International Baccalaureate program to music, drama, foreign languages, industrial arts, physical education, art, family and consumer studies, business administration, Junior ROTC and multiple curricula at the workplace – is one of Christensen’s main concerns. She hopes to find grants and other funding sources beyond the per-pupil funding the school receives through the state and the Poudre School District to keep these programs running.
“And to see what new things we can bring here too,” she said.
The school draws students from a vast geographic area, stretching west to the Continental Divide at the top of Cameron Pass, north to the Wyoming state line, as far east as Fort Collins Country Club and Interstate 25 and as far south as the state of Colorado. University campus.
The diversity that comes from such a wide area – economic, racial, social and cultural – makes Poudre somewhat unique among Fort Collins’ four comprehensive high schools. And that’s a big part of its appeal, Christensen said.
“I just have a tremendous sense of gratitude toward Poudre High School and everything it has done for me, and I want to continue that at the school,” she said. “The more I think about it, the more I’m really looking forward to this opportunity. I am proud of the things we do here and certainly proud to be part of this community and what we do.”
Christensen began working at Poudre High in 1999 as a certified athletic trainer serving Poudre High students, Poudre School District said in a news release announcing her hiring. The following year, she began teaching Spanish and physical education courses at the school. She was still teaching in 2018, three years after becoming assistant principal. She was also the school’s STEM-X coordinator for several years and became athletic director in 2018.
Christensen received her bachelor’s degree in education in 1998 from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a master’s degree in education in 2015 from Colorado State University.
Reporter Kelly Lyell covers education, breaking news, some sports and other topics of interest to the Coloradoan. Contact him at kellylyell@coloradoan.com, x.com/KellyLyell And facebook.com/KellyLyell.news.
This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: Poudre High School’s new principal is a longtime employee
