Five Years of Memories

Principal Darci VanAdestine says farewell to East High

By Alissa Ihlenfeld, Current Staff

Before leaving West Bend East High School, principal Darci VanAdestine has a few more laughs to share.

VanAdestine is staying in the district, but leaving East to become the principal of Jackson Elementary starting next month. Here she shares four fun memories from her five years at East.

East Dance Fundraiser

“The East Dance team did a fundraiser where I was a dance partner for Jamie Neumann. It was more of a community event so then I got to meet other partners and the other dancers. Since my only experience was probably in elementary school with tap, jazz and ballet, I would practice at home, since both our schedules were tight.”

The Helios Costume

“I dressed up as Helios for one of the football games. That was really fun, attempting to kick the field goals. That was a cool experience, just seeing laughter on everyone’s faces.”

Homecoming Pep Rallies

“The homecoming pep rallies-those will always be unique to the high schools. Just having the East-West camaraderie, that will probably never happen anywhere else. Just homecoming, in general, is always a solid memory. Me and my assistants always dress up for the dress up days. In the last two, the football players did a dance that the East dance team choreographed. Those are always fun because it’s always fun to hear the laughter in the crowd. The pep rallies that stand out to me always get the crowd really engaged.”

Grad Walk

“Another awesome memory is the grad walk. I was here when we first started it. It was just really cool, being able to ride the bus with the students back to an elementary school. Just riding the bus with the graduates and hearing them reminisce about the fun times and the teachers that they had.”

(Top photo: Darci VanAdestine, the outgoing head principal at West Bend East High School. Photo by Jessica Steger. Bottom photo courtesy of VanAdestine.)