Owen Hege, who takes over the reins of Westmont High School this fall, is a 37-year veteran of the district. He left Branham High School, where he served as dean of students until last June, to step into his first full-time principalship.

Tom Utic is comparatively new to the district, having been hired as Branham's vice principal in 2002. While he'll be heading up a campus that is considered somewhat new—Branham reopened in 1999 after an eight-year closure—Utic does have experience in the top spot. Before coming to Branham, he served as principal at Scotts Valley High School.

Both men began their careers as teachers. Hege taught English and Latin at Westmont, Utic social studies at San Lorenzo Valley and Newark Memorial high schools. But while Hege enjoyed the direct interaction with students that teaching allowed, Utic was more focused on curriculum development.

These interests have guided their individual careers. Hege initially spent 22 years at Westmont, where he eventually became activities director. For the past four years, he has served as the district's summer-school principal. In these jobs, he was able to utilize what he considers his personal strength: working with adults and teenagers together.

Hege says this ability will come in even handier in his new role as Westmont's principal.

"I really love working with young people more directly and with their parents," says Hege, the father of three adult children. "I raised my own kids, and they were all very different. They all had their ups and downs."

Hege says he can empathize with parents who want answers when their child isn't succeeding in school, and he encourages parents to contact teachers right away to discuss any problems their children are having.

"When parents don't get information in a timely manner, that's when things fall apart," he adds. "One message I have for staff is that we have to work continually with parents."

As Branham's vice principal, Utic worked continually with teachers to encourage collaboration in the classroom, including integrating curriculum to help students make connections between subjects.

"For the most part, teachers really like [collaborating]," Utic says. "The challenge is making the time to do it."

Both Branham and Westmont will be welcoming several new faculty members this fall. Utic says hiring has been his primary focus this summer.

"I've been spending lots of time interviewing," he adds.

At Westmont, 15 teachers have been added to the payroll. But there are also some familiar faces in the classroom.

"There are a handful still here from when I was here [the first time]," Hege says.

Hege is the only new administrator at Westmont this year. He replaces Bob Serpa, who served as principal for four years and was employed in the district for more than three decades.

Branham's administrative turnover has been quite a bit higher. Utic is replacing Iris Berke, who retired in June after shepherding the school through its first five years. Along with Berke, athletic director Susie Morris, activities director Diane Jones and guidance counselor Sue Flowers also retired.

"The retirees are key people who opened the school," Utic says. "There's lots of change."

There's also lots of familiarity, since all but one of Branham's new administrators come from within the district.

"We feel really comfortable with the new administrative people," Utic says. "The transition has been pretty easy. You're asking me at the right time, since the students aren't here yet."

Once classes in the district begin on Aug. 31, Utic will have less time to spend on Branham's academic programs as he focuses on his new role as the school's community liaison. "I really love the academic program," he says. "I liked the job of vice principal a lot. This [new job] is a professional growth path. I'm going to try to grow in other areas and let go of the details of my old job."

Despite their different approaches, Campbell Union High School Superintendent Rhonda Farber says both men have all the qualities and skills necessary to succeed in their new positions.

"Principals wear many hats," Farber says. "In terms of working with faculty and the community, they're both going to do all of that."

As Utic's former co-worker, Hege says the new Branham principal is up to the challenge. "He's a wonderful person," Hege adds. "If we'd ended up [still working] together, I'd have been very comfortable. It's interesting that we both came out of Branham. I give Iris all the credit."

Utic says Berke acted as his mentor when she was Branham's principal. "Other principals have also been pretty helpful," he adds.

Both men agree that Berke's leadership played a large role in Branham's recent accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. According to Utic, the accreditation certifies that "Branham has established standards and is achieving its objectives."

Farber says Utic's work on the accreditation committee was one thing that made him "a very successful vice principal."

"His experience with us has been short, but he's been a wonderful addition," she adds.

Hege, Farber says, stands out in part because of the work he's done in the high school community. "Owen is very dedicated to student success," Farber says. "He's a thoughtful, caring person who is really good at bringing people together."

In his career with the district, Hege has dealt with students on both ends of the academic and disciplinary spectrum. "As [Westmont's] activities director, I was meeting with kids who were college-bound," he says. "I worked for many years with cream-of-the-crop students, then went to work with at-risk kids at Branham. I wouldn't prefer one or another. It just shows that kids run the whole gamut."

To keep at-risk students from crossing the line, Hege has made it a policy to nip behavioral problems in the bud before they start. As dean of students at Del Mar High School from 1990 to 2000, he was responsible for hiring San Jose police officers to patrol the campus at lunchtime as a pre-emptive measure.

"Some officers followed me over to Branham," he says. "If you sit back and let things happen, the amount of time it takes to clean up the mess and the public-relations damage it does are incredible."

Hege says he'll take the same approach at Westmont.

"If you sit back and are happy with it, it's going to work itself backwards," he adds. "You've got to be continually moving forward. It takes a lot of work to keep it moving in that direction."

Branham's staff has been moving in high gear since it reopened to reestablish the campus as a comprehensive high school. In an interview with the Campbell Reporter prior to her retirement, Berke said the pioneer spirit that helped Branham through its fledgling years began to wane as enrollment increased.

"If the faculty had remained constant, we'd have kept that," Berke added. "The newer people aren't as vested in the initial goals."

Utic disagrees. "What I still like about Branham is the pioneer spirit," he says. "There's a lot of positive energy here. We probably have a younger staff than a lot of schools, but we had enthusiastic veterans help open the school. They helped set the tone."

The new principal admits that the tone has changed. "It's not really the same kind of buzz," he said. "The excitement is still there, but it's more about institutionalizing the kind of school we want to be. We're not just building now but maintaining."

An enthusiastic veteran himself, 61-year-old Hege says he's not ready to retire any time soon. "There are people leaving who are younger and less experienced than me," he says. "I'm doing it because I love it and I feel I can contribute a lot to the school.

"Generally, I'm invested in this for the success of young people," Hege adds. "That's my motivating force."