By: Oumou Bah and Aleah Blaszak- OwlFeed

Follow us @OwlOumou and @BlaszakAleah

After Dr. Bentz announced he would be leaving at the end of last school year, we all eagerly waited to find out who the new principal would be coming into the new school year. “Eagerly” might even be an understatement.

Some of us wondered if this new principal would measure up to the legacy that Dr. Bentz left behind. But it quickly became apparent that there was nothing to worry about when we finally got to meet our new principal, Mr. Luedemann.

Prior to becoming our principal, Mr. Luedemann worked many jobs in the school system. He was an assistant principal for curriculum and instruction for 3 years, an athletic director for 2 years, an English teacher and a football/baseball coach at Sierra Linda High School. Before working at Sierra Linda, he was a teacher at La Joya High School.

Mr. Luedemann appears to be a man ready to take on any adversity that comes his way. He’s thoroughly prepared to be Agua Fria’s new principal.

Already, Mr. Luedemann takes the time out of his busy schedule to get out of his office and get to know students.

On any given day, you may notice our principal engaging in conversations with students and faculty out in the courtyard or in the hallways of our campus. It is very important to Mr. Luedemann that he interacts with everyone at our school.

Furthermore, Mr. Luedemann enjoys seeing students “achieve and be able to move on and do things their parents maybe didn’t have the opportunity for.” This is one of the reasons why he chose Agua Fria, being that it is a school where a multitude of students go on to do bigger and better things without privileges that schools in places such as Scottsdale have.

When asked what things he would like to implement this year, he responded that he would like to improve parent involvement in the school and communication between students and faculty.

Overall,  he loves Agua Fria and does not want to mess too much with what we have already established.

His first priority as the new principal is to “prepare young people so that they can be successful in their next step in life.” He takes the mottos, “College and Career Ready” and “Honor First Win or Lose” very seriously. In addition to that, he lives by the words, “is it good for kids?”, because to Mr. Luedemann all that matters is that, as a principal, he’s making choices that are going to benefit students in the long run.

Mr. Luedemann made it clear that he is not trying to replace the presence that Dr. Bentz has left behind. He would like to become a new presence by building relationships with students, giving his time to the school, and getting to know the ties that the community has with Agua Fria.

We had to ask the big question of what it means to #BeAnOwl to him and he responded with doing the right things the right way. Mr. Luedemann believes that we are doing great things here at Agua Fria and that to be an Owl, you have to know that “all means all.”

Overall, Mr. Luedemann is proving to be an amazing addition to our Owl’s nest and we can not wait to see what he has in store for Agua Fria.