NEW PALESTINE — Rhonda Peterson’s heart and soul will always be with the Southern Hancock school district, but the longtime administrator is about to begin a new phase of her career in a different school system.
Peterson, 45, who is the Brandywine Elementary School principal, is leaving after 19 years at Southern Hancock. She’s taking on a new challenge at Carmel Clay Schools as soon as the school year wraps up.
She will be Carmel Clay’s new director of curriculum, instruction and assessment starting on July 1. The district, with over 16,000 students, is one of the state’s largest.
Carmel Clay Superintendent Michael Beresford said Peterson’s rich background in curriculum made Peterson a perfect fit for the job. He also touted her years of working with high-preforming students.
While it wasn’t an easy decision electing to leave Southern Hancock, she decided to heed her instinct to try something new.
“I love the people of this community so deeply, but I’ve always sought after new adventures and experiences, even if it’s a little bit scary,” Peterson said.
When it comes to the fear of the unknown, Peterson will always push herself to tackle those types of situations, she said. It was just like that time when she was in college wanting to try something out of the ordinary. She convinced her parents to let her go to London to student teach for three months.
“Now that was a fun adventure,” she said with a laugh.
Still, making the decision to move on at this stage of her career was one of the hardest professional decisions Peterson has ever had to make, she said. After speaking with her family, close friends, and trusted educators before accepting a job offer, she soon realized the position at Carmel Clay would help her utilize her strong leadership skills.
“There are just a lot of blank pages that are waiting to be filled in my book — new experiences and new adventures,” Peterson said. “It really is almost like traveling to a new country.”
Her husband of 21 years, Thor Peterson, is his wife’s biggest cheerleader. With his and their two children’s support, she was able to accept the new position wholeheartedly.
“She’s always looking for challenges, and the new experiences,” Thor Peterson said. “To be able to do what she does at a much larger district that she hasn’t been exposed to before is something that gets her excited.”
A Shelby County native, Peterson first came to New Palestine fresh out of Ball State University in 1995 when she took part in superintendent Betty Poindexter’s student teaching program.
Getting to know Poindexter, one of the first female superintendents in the state, helped Peterson realize at a young age that the sky was the limit to what she could accomplish in education.
After student teaching, Peterson landed her first teaching job in Hope, Indiana, but came back to New Palestine in 2000 when district officials opened Sugar Creek Elementary.
Peterson, at the prompting of then-Principal Tony Strangeway, made her way from the classroom to be Southern Hancock curriculum director in 2004. It was a role she kept until becoming principal at Brandywine Elementary two years ago.
While head of curriculum at Southern Hancock, Peterson made her mark, spearheading the district’s efforts to become one of the first in the state to implement technology into the classroom.
Along the way, she earned her masters degree, principals’s certificate and doctorate in education. More importantly, she earned the respect of people she worked with every day.
“She’s the smartest and one of the kindest people I know,” said Laura Walsh, longtime district office secretary. “Not only is she a great leader; she’s a great person, and that’s what makes it such a big loss for our district.”
As a principal, not only did Peterson take time to work and lead her teachers, staff and students; she was always looking for ways to make impacts in education as a whole, she said. It’s something she’s looking forward to doing at a larger school district.
Peterson said she is thankful for the many opportunities her leadership mentors and superintendents have given her along the way, and she thanked the community for helping her grow into the person she is today.
“I will leave a piece of my heart behind here in Southern Hancock,” she said.
