PEOPLE OF INTEREST
The
Principal
BY SUE-ELLEN SANDERS
PHOTO BY GREG GARDNER
As the first school year comes to an end
36
for the students of Treasure Coast High
School, their principal, Helen Roberts,
barely stops for a breath. In fact, Roberts doesn’t
seem to stop at all, whether she’s hightailing
it across the brand new campus, with the
click-click of her heels the only sound you
hear, answering her two-way radio or attending
nearly every sporting event that her
school’s teams play.
Roberts loves a challenge. She never broke a
sweat last August, when the new high school
building, which she helped design, wasn’t
ready to move into until the Monday before
classes began. She spent much of last year hiring
new teachers and an outstanding administrative
team that she treats like an extended
family. The prom picture on her desk shows
Roberts posed with her assistant principals. “We take a
group picture at every event,” she says.
It’s been a year of firsts for Roberts and the school, including
hosting Treasure Coast High’s first musical show this
spring (High School Musical, featuring a cast of more than 50
students, most involved in drama for the first time) and
sending the first sports team, the school’s tennis team, which
included her eldest daughter, sophomore stand-out Morgan
Roberts, to state competition.
This is the second school where Roberts has been principal;
she served as principal at St. Lucie West Middle School
and also helped to open Centennial High School as an assistant
principal. She loves watching the school come together
for events like the drama production. “I watch kids from a
diverse population and different cliques get so surprised and
excited at the attachment they form to the school, through
working together for the show.” Or watching the school’s
many sports teams work the kinks out, overcoming the
challenges of playing together for the first time, without
benefit of a senior class.
Roberts is a natural at being a principal. She’s calm, collected
and supremely in charge, all while making her students,
teachers and staff feel they are one big family. This
was not her plan when she graduated college, though.
“When we moved down here in 1988, I wanted to get my
graduate degree and there weren’t a lot of options then. I
went into counselor education, became a guidance counselor
at Windmill Point Elementary and just kept going
from there.”
What’s next on the horizon? Roberts thrives on challenges:
“I never will say I want to do one thing for the rest of my
life,” she says. “I always need a new goal.”