Robin Hauger feels right at home, even though she isn’t.
After 16 years of serving the Milroy Public School as its secretary, Hauger is the new deputy registrar/SPED secretary at Tracy Area High School. In her position at MPS, the mother of three boys was blessed with the opportunity to be around her kids as they went through grade school.
The move to TAHS was a big one, but it put her in a position to once again be around her boys, as Brody is a senior and Levi a sophomore. However, before she made that move, she wanted to make sure her boys were on board. There’s a world of difference between her time with her grade school-aged boys in Milroy and in Tracy when they’re now teenagers.
“I talked to the boys — ‘Are you sure this is a good fit for me?’ because I did move through all of grade school with them,” said Hauger. “That’s one of the reasons I decided to do this and not try something else; I want to be around for Brody’s senior year and Levi’s last three years of school.”
Hauger said the best part of her job in Milroy was, of course, the kids, especially her own. Levi, now 16, was three months old when she started.
“That’s the whole reason I was there,” she said. “I mostly took that position when my kids were going to school. It was very much smaller in Milroy, so this is going to take a little getting used to.”
The number of students is just one challenge Hauger knows she will face, but she says she is very much up to it.
“I’m used to knowing every single person that walked into the (Milroy) building,” she said. “And parents, siblings. Here, I’m not going to know very many of the students.”
But it’s not like she won’t know any of the students. Having a senior in school — and one who plays multiple sports — Hauger is familiar with the kids in his circle.
“It’s not like I haven’t been around the kids,” she said. “It’s just that I haven’t met other people to be able to say, ‘Hey, nice to meet you.’” Hauger will be sharing some responsibilities with Jason Kainz and among her duties will be working with new students and helping students with their scheduling.
“I’m still getting used to all of the pieces,” she said. “I will do the scheduling for the kids — if they need a schedule change, need to drop a college course that they decided not to take. We see if they can make their request come to light.”
Going through an orientation in May gave Hauger the chance to meet the administration and many of the staff.
“Everybody has been more than kind,” Hauger said. “I got hugs from staff, so that was really nice.”
All things considered, while it was sad to see the school in Milroy close, Hauger couldn’t ask for a better landing spot. Although there is always some trepidation that comes with a new job, having some familiarity increases her comfort zone.
“It makes it a little less scary,” she said. “You want to do well, you want to know that you’ve made the right decision. When you have people already knowing who you are kind of makes it easier.”
