St. Louis High School came back from winter break Jan. 3, with very exciting news. To many students’ surprise, they finally had an official new principal Mr. Ben Brock. 

This will be Mr. Brock’s 20th year working within a school system. Brock has been a teacher, a coach, an athletic director, an assignment principal, and he also has experience as a principal.  He worked at ShepherdMiddle School as a principal before deciding to come to join the Shark Tank. 

Although he will miss working at Shepherd, he is very excited to experience the great people and programs of SLHS. Mr. Brock decided to work at SLHS because of the great pride and tradition shown within the school. He expressed,  “I have friends who have always spoken highly of St. Louis Public Schools and when the position came open, I was lucky enough to have an opportunity to become the St. Louis High School Principal.”

However, what got Mr. Brock into wanting to work in education? Well, Brock has been surrounded by teachers his whole life. One was his mother, and she worked at the Shepherd High School for 37 years so this led to him and his brother always wanting to do the same. Growing up surrounded by the life of a teacher and working in a school influenced both Brock boys to also work in the educational career field. 

Brock has many goals and things he would like to accomplish at SLHS. One is that he wants to help facilitate and provide a positive experience for every student. He knows that the relationships you have with your students can have a long-lasting effect on them, and he believes that all of the teachers at SLHS have positive impacts on the students every day.  Mr. Brock also expressed, “I have really been impressed with how nice all of the students and staff have been to me in my first week as principal.  Everyone has shown me respect, and I plan to do my best to live up to expectations.  I realize that a great majority of students have relatives who graduated from St. Louis and that generations have not only achieved at SLHS, but also take great pride in being a Shark for life.  I am humbled that I have an opportunity to be a small part of the success moving forward.  Go Sharks!!”  

Sarah Corson, a junior at SLHS stated, “I’m very excited for Mr. Brock to be our principal. When I first saw him he was wearing cool sunglasses, and I thought wow this guy seems really cool. He seems like he will be a great principal.” 

Another student at SLHS, Evelynn Gutierrez expressed, “I’m excited to see Mr. Brock’s influence in the school. I think right now it may be a little awkward for everyone to adjust, but I do believe that he can make a great influence on the students. I first thought that he was someone’s dad walking in school, and then I realized he was our new principal. I also first noticed that he dresses really nice and kind of fancy. But I know he is a good person and is trying his best for our school.”