CENTER - Superintendent Carrie Zimmerman recently announced that Andy Hawkins is the new assistant superintendent for the Center Consolidated School District.  

Hawkins stated that he is happy to serve in a leadership role, and excited to work alongside Zimmerman. 

“I have worked with Carrie when she was a principal in Center, and I was a teacher. When she came back as a superintendent, I worked with her for two years as an assistant principal. I have been in education since 2007, and I knew I wanted to be a teacher since I was 14 or 15 years old. I am oversight for a lot of things, but if Carrie says I need to do this, I pretty well do it, and that’s honestly my favorite thing about the position,” he stated with a chuckle.  

Hawkins moved to the San Luis Valley from Aurora and played football at Adams State where he graduated. After graduation, he got his first chance to work for the Center Consolidated School District as a maintenance and groundskeeper. “I went on to become a paraprofessional after that. I was an elementary and PE teacher for 8 years; I was also an assistant principal. I was the middle school principal in Monte Vista for 5 years, and the head football coach for 3 years.” 

Hawkins stated that he knew he wanted to be in education when his dad passed away when he was 14 years old. “My high school coaches, and the principal filled that void for me, after my dad passed away. My teachers, they just all guided me and showed me leadership. At that point, I knew I wanted to give back in a similar manner. I wanted to give back what they had done for me. I was moved towards education.”  

Hawkins stated that as a child he also took on many leadership roles including being a Cub Scout leader in Boy scouts. “If there was something where a person could put themselves in a leadership role, I pretty well put myself into it.”  

Hawkins stated that all though he is the Assistant Superintendent, he will also hold other roles and wear many other hats in his position, including being the Child Welfare Educational Liaison, as well as an overseer for athletics and safety and security for the school, and the Title Nine Coordinator. “I will also do teacher evaluations, which is more fun than I can shake a stick at,” he said with a laugh.  

Hawkins stated that while he loves working in education, the only real struggle he has ever had in his job is time management, “It is always a hard one with many hats and having multiple deadlines for everything to effectively manage time. Time management has been hard and also learning how to say no at the same time, that way you can still have a personal life, and family time, and still live the passion that you have.”   

Hawkins stated that one of the most rewarding and interesting things about his job has been watching his students grow up from kindergarten into high school students. “You look at these kids and except them to look a certain way and suddenly they are all grown up and look so different. They give me their names and tell me who they are, and I am like oh my gosh you were just in second grade the last time I saw you.” 

Hawkins stated that if he could offer kids one saying to help them through their lives, if he had a mantra to help them with, he would say that they should always stay true to who they are, “Whatever your morals, whatever your ethics are, live by them. You define your character by how you act regardless of where you are, and who can and can’t see you. This defines the kind of person that you are going to be. Hold on to that and build on your character to find it.”