Before school even started, new principal Kert Boedicker was connecting with his new students, listening and sharing his vision to unite student groups with a common cause.

For example, he met with Key Club officers Kyli Calhoon, junior, and Elizabeth Len, senior, so the girls could explain their plans for the new year. Key Club focuses on bringing students together to help improve the community via service projects.  They said they were excited to work with him.

“He’s already very supportive,” says Len.

“You could see the excitement in his smile,” Calhoon adds.

After meeting with Key Club officers and other students in the building, Boedicker says, “It’s fascinating to watch young people give their time to help others.” His plan is to bring different clubs together annually to work toward one common cause.

Boedicker, 53, graduated from Baldwin Wallace University in 1987. He has a major in health and physical education and a minor in psychology and elementary education. He has a master’s degree from Ashland University.

Since graduating, Bodicker taught health, physical education, math and science in Ohio middle schools and was a high school principal at two schools in the state. In Ohio, he also coached football and wrestling. When he moved to Indiana for his wife’s career, Boedicker became the vice principal at Brownsburg High School and stayed seven years.

While there, Boedicker developed a strong relationship with students. In fact, after the official MSDPT twitter announced he would be coming to Perry, Twitter user @xpaigeshattuck tweeted: “This school just received the best principal in the world. No one at Brownsburg helped kids grow and learn more than Kert Boedicker.”

When asked how important students are to Boedicker, he replied, “I treat my students like they are my children.” His own four children and two stepchildren are young adults.

One way Boedicker will try to promote these relationships is through a student-principal committee comprised of a variety of students who will share their thoughts and issues about the school with him. To join, students should stop by the deans office and provide their names.

Boedicker is also working to improve the school’s learning environment by enforcing a strict tardy policy and reminding students frequently to “walk and talk,” and get to class on time. And then there’s his new phone policy which bans cell phone usage inside the classroom.      Many students dislike the new policy, complaining about it on social media while using the hashtag #notmyprincipal.

Sophomore Nora Macias calls the policy too strict; She said that the administration should “let the teachers in classrooms decide.”

Freshmen Randy Newson and Jeff Session are disappointed with the ban too. “It was a huge reason I was excited for high school,” says Newson.

Boedicker isn’t swayed by any complaints; he’s not going to back down on the policy, he said. Students should only focus on school work in the classroom, he says. If research needs to be done, that’s why students have Chromebooks, he adds.

In any case, Boedicker prefers talking about encouraging students to do good work and come together despite their differences. He praises the school’s great diversity and wants to bring people of all backgrounds together.

“The school is a hub for the community,” says Boedicker. He hopes to use the new Perry stadium as a community builder.

But not just at football games, even though Boedicker won all sorts of awards as an outstanding linebacker in college and was known throughout the Ohio Athletic Conference, details that he doesn’t share in an interview and have to be learned from a “Kert Boedicker” google search.

“The stadium is more than just football,” Boedicker insists. “It brings the community together.”

In fact, he says that his football experience taught him more than just football. “It taught me a lot about integrity and character.”

The new principal says he’s excited for the up and coming school year and all that it holds. “There’s nothing like having fun,” he says.