News Photo by Julie Goldberg Rogers City Area Schools Superintendent Nick Hein talks with Rogers City High School student Alex Meyers during the school’s lunch hour on Wednesday.

ROGERS CITY — Rogers City Area Schools Superintendent Nick Hein is almost done with one year as the district’s leading man.

Hein, who is also the middle/high school principal, was appointed to the superintendent position in June after being the interim superintendent for two months. He was told at the time that the position was a lonely one, but he said he’s never felt lonely and feels supported by those with whom he works.

The first year has been about working to make changes that are necessary to better the district and the Rogers City community, he said.

“I’m not shy of making a change if it needs to be done,” he said. “I think that, for a while in Rogers City, there was a revolving door for people, so nobody was very committed to make some of the changes that need to occur.”

Among the changes Hein has implemented are the use of the middle/high school parking lot to help students park so students have a single point of entrance and replacing a boiler in the elementary school.

“If you keep waiting until the next day to solve it, you’re going to find it costs even more, so, if we know that we have to replace this boiler, and even though it’s going to cost money, we have to do it, anyway, and, long term, it’s going to save money,” Hein said.

Hein graduated from Rogers City in 2001 and never imagined that one day he would lead the district from which he graduated.

“I can say, when I graduated here in 2001, I wanted to teach, but there’s no doubt about that. I was happy teaching,” Hein said. “If the job would have not been available here, I would have not have applied somewhere else, I would still be teaching in St. Ignace. I’m happy it worked out that way.”

Hein worked in St. Ignace for nine years before moving back to Rogers City to take the middle/high school principal position three years ago.

Robin Griwatsch, finance and personnel manager for the district, said Hein is a wonderful and fair leader for the district. She said it’s great to have a Rogers City alumnus as the superintendent because he’s familiar with the people and families.

“The students respect him and he takes time to explain things to them,” Griwatsch said. “I’ve seen a difference in the students and the respect they have for him.”

Hein, in turn, respects his staff.

“You’re only as good as the people that work with you and we have great people that work at this building, so that helps,” Hein said “If I need a resource, if there’s something I don’t know how to do because I’ve never seen it before, I always have someone who can provide a piece here and a piece there and we can figure it out.”

Leading the district and the middle/high school hasn’t provided many problems for Hein this school year, he said, which credits to his staff. They have supported him and helped pick up pieces if he has to commit to something else.

“It’s just the quality of the people we have around here and the town as a whole,” he said. “When you have a community that supports a school system and supports the people that are working there, it’s a bigger picture, not just the staff, the community as a whole.”

Hein has worked to align and expand the elementary and middle/high school curriculum.

“I’ve done my best to try to broaden our schedule and bring electives back to the school,” he said. “We brought art back. We’re bringing psych back. We brought a couple English classes back. Things that we didn’t have before.”

Griwatsch said Hein will continue to do good work as the superintendent and continue doing great things for the district.

Going forward, Hein said he hopes to maximize the school facilities to their full potential. He started working on a weight room project this winter. The new 2,500 square-foot room will be used more than the two separate ones that were barely used previously. Hein also wants to update the track so the school can host a track meet.

“I want to do something with the library, because now that we moved the board meetings from there into a classroom that wasn’t being used, I would like to create a space in there for kids,” Hein said.

Hein wants to create the best culture for students as the superintendent, and, as the principal, he wants to maximize the teaching and the opportunities that are available for students.

“No matter what, we try to put our best face forward, always moving forward with whatever we do with the school,” Hein said.

Julie Goldberg can be reached at 989-358-5688 or jgoldberg@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jkgoldberg12.