Mrs. Yashanta Holloway-Taluy knew that she wanted to be a principal after having three “amazing” school principals as a student. She loved how they made students feel successful, inspired others, and were great people to be around.

  Now, she finally gets to achieve that ten-year-old dream. Next year, she will be the new principal at Westampton Middle School.

  She is very excited. “It’s a smaller school, grades six to eight. I really enjoy working with the middle school population,” she said.

  Before coming to Eastern, Holloway-Taluy taught English from grades eight through twelve at an urban school in North Jersey.

  After that, she came to Eastern to become vice-principal. “I always wanted to be in educational administration and when the opportunity came up that it was time for change, Eastern was one of the schools that I applied to,” she said.

  She eventually became the Class of 2021 vice principal and a supervisor for the English department. Eastern has given her a great experience in the education department. “Eastern has taught me what it means to be an educational family,” she said, “and that the decisions need to be made with the students’ interests at heart.”

Holloway-Taluy explained that the process to become a principal was lengthy. She participated in three rounds of interviews where the school’s administration, teachers, parents, and board members asked questions that ranged from educational philosophy, student discipline, what it takes to be an amazing teacher, and what a normal student’s day looks like.

  “The questions were basically to get to know me better and what I could bring to the school,” she said.

  She was very excited to find out about her new role and wants to take many values from her life to Westampton.

“Honesty is important,” she said. “It’s difficult to get anyone to believe in what you’re doing and the decisions you are making if they don’t trust you.” Holloway-Taluy believes that being genuine and caring is also important because she will dealing with people every day.

  Here at Eastern, her presence will be missed. English teacher Mrs. Cooper is happy for Holloway-Taluy, but she said she will miss her.  However, she feels that the vice pricipal will do a good job in running the school the way she thinks is appropriate.

   “She will be dealing with younger students. I think she will be excellent in that capacity since she is very nurturing and caring and will be able to mold them to what she knows will be required for high school,” said Cooper.

  Cooper also believes that Holloway-Taluy is dedicated, responsible, and determined to succeed. “She will make it work,” she said.

  Dr. Tull also feels the same way. He is excited for Holloway-Taluy’s new opportunity, and is confident that she will be successful based on her time at Eastern. His advice to her is to be committed to what she knows and for her to allow herself to see students be successful and  help her make the changes necessary for Westampton.

  “We will miss her as a regular member of the Eastern family,” Tull said. “However, it is our belief that she will continue to make an impact based on the work she has done here.”