Marion Harding High School Assistant Principal Ryan Rismiller talks to student Ryan Sayre.
The Ohio Association of Secondary School Administrators announced this month that it has selected Harding High School Assistant Principal Ryan Rismiller as its 2017 Assistant Principal of the Year.
Rismiller will be the state’s nominee to the National Association of Secondary School Administrators recognition program to be held in July in Philadelphia. He will also be recognized by his peers at the OASSA Assistant Principals Conference to be held March 27 and 28 in Columbus.
Rismiller said his response to winning the award was pure excitement. He recalled when he attended his first conference in March 2015 and watched a presentation by that year’s recipient.
“I left the conference with conviction of how I wanted to serve as an assistant principal and becoming assistant principal became a goal that I posted on my wall,” he said.
Rismiller started as an assistant principal at Harding in 2014 after teaching agricultural education and working as an intervention specialist. He graduated from The Ohio State University with a bachelor of science degree in agriculture and earned his master’s degrees from Mount Vernon Nazarene University and Concordia University of Chicago.
His major duties at Harding include special education, Ohio Teacher Evaluation System evaluations, state testing and Response to Intervention, an approach to identifying and supporting students with learning and behavior needs.
Harding Principal Forrest Trisler, one of the staff members who nominated Rismiller, said he’s been the school’s leader in RTI and does a terrific job with tracking student testing and working with students so they can meet testing goals.
“Harding is meeting student needs because of his work,” Trisler said. “I’m most impressed with how hard he works for students so they can meet their goals.”
He called Rismiller a “strong collaborator” and complimented him on his work with both co-teachers and career and technical pathway teachers.
Rismiller said his biggest accomplishment as assistant principal deals with how he values relationships and leads through empathy.
“I want all people I come in contact with to feel and know that they are valued,” he said. “My favorite times are when I am able to slow down and have the opportunity to enjoy discussions in the hallway, lunch room, sporting event or other activity. I really enjoy hearing the stories that make the people I work with and serve.”
Nominees must submit an application to OASSA and have at least three years of experience. They must complete an essay about leadership in the area of school improvement. Each nominee must also submit at least two letters of recommendation.
This is the second year that a Harding assistant principal has won the honor. John Carder, an assistant principal at Harding from 2013 to 2016, was named the 2016 Assistant Principal of the Year.
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