As Hershey High School bids farewell to principal Dr. Dale Reimann, it welcomes interim principal Dr. Joseph Kristobak. With an extensive background in education, he will take over for the remainder of the 2016-17 school year.

Kristobak initially entered college with the intent to go into law, as he considerably enjoyed his history and political

science classes. Soon thereafter, however, he realized that he liked “this information so much that I want to share it with others.”

Although he may not have known from the start that he wanted to be a teacher, once he jumped into the profession, Kristobak knew it was the right path for him.

Kristobak officially started his career in education at Somerset Junior High School, and after an excellent experience there as a teacher, he realized that he wanted to become more involved in the planning and decision making process of the educational system. This prompted him to earn his principal certification and eventually put it to work as the assistant principal at Cedar Crest High School.

He cites the encouragement of his fantastic bosses as an influential reason for continuing his teaching education. During his career, Kristobak  eventually became principal at South Lebanon Elementary School, where he worked for four years. He finished his final four years as the superintendent of Cornwall-Lebanon School District, from which he has been retired for three and a half years now.

Following retirement, Kristobak returned to his passion for law by working part-time as a jury attendant until Dr. Reimann approached him about the possibility of the interim position he now holds at HHS. Though at first he thought he might not take the position because he had already retired, Kristobak soon realized that he missed working with kids and decided to go through the interview process.

He couldn’t be happier to be at HHS and said that his main goal while here is to “be someone who is here to serve the school district” and make the transition between principals as smooth as possible.

Kristobak is anxious to begin this new adventure and hopes to get to know as many staff members and students as he can in his time here.

“No matter which level I’ve worked at, it’s always been the students; they’ve always made the difference…I’m really looking forward to it [at HHS], and I truly mean that,” Kristobak said.