After working at Mission Hills since opening, Nathan Baker has been promoted to the role of principal. In his new position, Baker plans to continue being student focused.

   “What I can bring, or I would say what I can continue doing for this campus because I’ve been here for so long, I feel like most staff know me fairly well in the sense that I’ve been here for more than a year or two, have gotten to know me too. So what I think I will continue to bring is somebody that will work tirelessly for the students and for the staff, somebody that is excited about the work to be done, who has lots of energy and in all decisions that I make, will be focused on the school, whether it’s for staff, to be able to assist students, or for me to assist students directly, the focus of mine will always be students.”

   Tina Hernandez filled in Baker’s old role of Assistant Principal. Baker admires Hernandez’ resiliency that it takes to fill in his old position. 

   “The biggest impact that she’ll have on our campus as assistant principal will be working with students that don’t have that large voice that  may not be as connected to campus as other students are. Ms. Hernandez is able to identify those students fairly easily and build relationships with those students and become not only a voice for them, but an advocate for them in their success. Of all the strengths she has, I think that is her strongest asset that she brings to Mission Hills.”

Fulfilling his new role as principal of Mission Hills,  Nathan Baker’s previous position went vacant–Tina Hernandez has now been promoted to Assistant Principal. Being moved to his position, Hernandez has respect for Baker as a long time staff member at Mission Hills and is determined to continue on in his footsteps. 

   “What I really like about him is I feel that he has every stakeholder’s interest at heart. I think that’s really important in that leadership position of principal is that not just that you know the different stakeholders, but that you understand them and see their needs because like we talked about before, in order for a school system to work, everybody is a part of the puzzle, everybody is a slice of the cake, right?”

   As AP, Hernandez hopes to improve student quality of life through strengthening and connecting all aspects of campus life.

   “I would say my goal [in] short is that we continuously enhance our systems so that everybody, regardless of background, culture, language, skillset, ability, have equal access to what happens in the classroom as well as outside the classroom because we all need different things. I might need certain things whereas you may need other things to be successful, but for me, it is inclusion and equity, that everyone [has] access to the content and also what happens outside of the classroom because I think holistically, that’s what creates a complete person.”