Charlo hires new athletic director, superintendent
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
Charlo schools have added a new athletic director and superintendent for the entire 2012-13 school year with a single hire: Thom Peck. In an effort to make him feel more at home, we’ve asked him a short list of questions and published them below so you might get to know him better.
Charlo School District 7J’s new athletic director and superintendent Thom Peck has been working in education for the past 25 years. A graduate of Carroll College and former biology and chemistry teacher, Peck attended high school in Columbia Falls and is familiar with the valley. He started his teaching career near Seattle, Wash., but always knew he’d come back home.
“Being from Montana, born and raised, it’s great when you go out there because you think you’re making the big time in a big city,” Peck said. “But, as soon as we had kids, we knew we wanted to raise them in Montana.”
True to his word, Peck returned to Montana in 1996 as a teacher and coach at Flathead High School. He coached football and basketball while at Flathead High, and said the greatest aspect of his job is learning from the kids. “I always thought education was the greatest profession to be in because you get to have an impact on kids, and I think you learn just as much every year from the kids as they learn from you,” he said.
“It also keeps you young,” he added with a laugh.
Peck has two daughters. One just graduated from Bigfork High School and the other will be a junior at Glacier High School this year.
On his days off, he enjoys high school athletics and activities, golf, reading, music concerts and any excuse he can find to jump in Flathead Lake.
Peck’s favorite aspect of teaching is watching people succeed, be challenged and grow as young adults. His creed, which he says he brings up at every staff meeting, is “Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships.” Rigor — really challenge kids to be better and push them to work harder in the classroom. Relevance — make it meaningful; show them they’ll use it down the road. Relationships — when kids graduate, you’ve developed relationships that will never end, memories that will never leave you.
“Just this summer I was asked to be a part of a former student’s wedding,” he said. “Those are memories you’ll never lose, relationships that will never fade.”
