News Photo by Julie Goldberg Besser Elementary School Principal Eric Cardwell said being a principal always has been about the kids and doing what’s right for the kids. “It’s all about the kids and families,” Cardwell said.

ALPENA — Besser Elementary School Principal Eric Cardwell has had a love for education his entire life. Later this year he will be advocating for elementary school principals and students.

On Aug. 1., Cardwell is starting a one-year term as National Association of Elementary School Principals president.

Cardwell has been principal at Besser for six years and was principal at Sanborn Elementary School for four years prior. His love for education started in the early 1970s with his grandfather.

“I would come visit as a young child and after he retired, I remember sitting on his front porch and students would stop by and visit him after they graduated to talk about what their job pursuits were,” Cardwell said. “At that point, I saw what a tremendous impact education can have and what impact the teachers can have, and so even from that earliest time, education is a game changer for me.”

Cardwell will have many different duties as NAESP president.

“There’s so many facets to it all,” he said. “I’ll be representing the 60,000 pre-K through eighth grade principals across the nation. As far as the job duties are concerned, there will be a substantial amount of travel, spending time in Washington, working with policy makers, and spending time on Capitol Hill.”

Cardwell also will travel around the country and visiting various principal associations where he will have an opportunity to go in and complete sessions at state conferences.

“Through the State Department, I will have the opportunity to go present and attend an international conference where I will be able to choose where to go and right now, I’m leaning towards going to Africa to present,” he said.

At last week’s Alpena Public Schools Board of Education meeting, Cardwell thanked the school district for granting him the opportunity to leave and serve as NAESP president. One person Cardwell also thanked was his wife Kim, who Cardwell said has been his number one supporter with everything that he’s doing.

“Obviously, it all starts at home. One of the jokes I tell people is before I ran for the national or state president, I started with the boss, which is my wife to see if she was on board,” Cardwell said. “Being an educator, she didn’t bat an eye as far as the involvement, because there’s substantial time of being gone in the summer and also throughout the school year.”

Cardwell said the homefront is his number one priority and to make sure that’s taken care of and along with his wife’s understanding and passion for education, his kids also have been extremely supportive of him being both the president of the Michigan Elementary and Middle Schools Principals Association and NAESP.

Even though it’s the end of February, Cardwell already knows the last day of school in June is going to be a hard day for him.

“I’ve thought about that last day in June for a while. I actually I thought about it on the first day of school back in August,” he said. “I go out to the buses every day with the kids and on that first day of school, the sun was shining and the flag was flying and as the buses pulled away, I thought that this could be the last first day of school that I have.”

Cardwell said on that day, there will be some tears because Alpena is his home. His daughter graduated from Alpena High School and Cardwell has spent the last decade of his career here.

“You develop relationships with parents, community members, and staff and it’s going to be, I think, an emotional one for me on that last day when the kids leave for the last time,” he said. “If you’re in it for the right reasons, it should be emotional.”

Cardwell said being NAESP president is the next step in his career to help advocate for students and principals.

“At the end at the day, the best part of my career will be the fact that I have worked with kids, parents, and staff in the community,” he said. “That will be the highlight of my career when it ends.”

Cardwell isn’t sure if he will return to APS next year after his term is completed.

“I have an option to come back to Alpena and as we get into the latter part of next winter, I’ll be examining what the options are,” he said. “I told human resources I would let them know my intent by March 2019 and obviously, my heart is with Alpena, so stay tuned.”

Throughout his term as president, Cardwell will be blogging on the NAESP website about going to schools across the U.S.

“It’s really about getting the stories of successes and challenges out and recognizing the effort what schools do daily for kids and communities,” Cardwell said. “I’m excited about that.”

To follow Cardwell through his journey as NAESP president, he said people can follow him on Twitter @Cardwell16.

Julie Goldberg can be reached via email at jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5688.