NEWBERRY — Nikki Hunter is taking on a new role this year, as she has officially begun her first year as principal of Gallman Elementary School.
Originally from Charleston, Hunter first came to Newberry after meeting chief human resource officer Pam Arrington at a job fair while she was a student at Francis Marion University. She then accepted a job offer to work at Gallman in 1996.
Hunter is a graduate of Francis Marion University where she received her bachelor of science degree in Elementary Education. She also attended Grand Canyon University where she received her master’s in School Administration.
Hunter said she didn’t think she was going to stay in Newberry for more than a year when she took that job in 1996. Fast forward to 21 years later and she is still in Newberry County. Hunter has taught third through fifth grade at Gallman.
“I knew that at some point I wanted to get into school administration, but I wanted some other experiences. I went to Newberry Middle School and I taught sixth grade. Shortly after that, I went to Mid-Carolina Middle School as a curriculum coordinator for two years and was an assistant principal at Mid-Carolina Middle School for a year,” said Hunter.
Although Hunter is taking on a new role as principal, she still has her mind set on ways to make Gallman a great place to attend school.
“Our slogan is ‘Promoting students, building community and instilling pride.’ One of the things that we really want to do is promote our students. We are here because of them and we know that if our customers stop coming then we probably would be out of a job. We want to make sure our students feel like they are important and that they know they are the reason why we are here,” said Hunter.
“Obviously we want to build community within our classrooms, school building and parents,” she added. “But we also want to build community outside the walls of Gallman. One of the things I’m looking forward to doing are some community outreach type things where kids can realize they are part of a global community, not just the community they live in.”
Hunter said she wants to make sure that as principal of Gallman Elementary, all students feel good about themselves and their school.
“We want our students to feel good about being Gallman Gators and we want our teachers to feel good about teaching here. We just want them to have a sense of pride, that’s where my push is right now, promoting students, building community and instilling pride,” said Hunter.
Hunter decided to make the transition from teaching to administration for more of a challenge for herself and wanted the opportunity to not only influence 20 students, but to influence the whole school.
“I just really feel like I could effect the whole school. It was just time for me to try something different and do something differently,” said Hunter. “In a classroom you can impact 20 kids, but as an administrator your impact reaches far and wide. I feel like I’m always going to be a teacher regardless and staying true to that is being a classroom teacher and remembering what that’s like. I feel that helped me be an effective administrator.”
Along with a new role at Gallman, that also means Hunter will come in contact with a lot of new faces. Hunter makes sure that she is present in the classrooms every day getting to know her students and touching base with teachers.
But more than anything, Hunter is grateful for the support that she has received so far.
“When I was in the process of applying for this position, it just feels like I’m back home. I feel like Dorothy where she clicks her heels and says ‘There’s no place like home.’ For me, Gallman is home and there’s no place like home. I did enjoy my time at Newberry Middle School and Mid-Carolina Middle School. It really stretched me professionally,” said Hunter. “I have received lots and lots of support from the District Office, just trying to ensure that I’ll be successful this first year. We have a very strong team here at Gallman from assistant principal to office staff. It’s just very strong.”
Hunter is married to Dr. Tim Hunter and they have a daughter, Alia.