In the early days of this school year, students may have spotted an unfamiliar face working in the hallway.

He has stood out with his positive smile and helping hand. 

His name is Zach Gavin, and he is Craig’s new dean of students.

Of course, many of our teachers are dedicated to helping their students, but this De Pere native shared his will to connect to every student, even ones he doesn’t know yet or teach. 

In fact, he knows a couple of languages that he wishes to use to communicate with everyone he can. 

He expresses a want to show the best interest of students after the departure of our former Dean of Students, Mr. Yaucher. 

Yaucher isn’t too far away; in fact; he was hired last spring at Milton Middle School as an assistant principal.

After Mr. Yaucher left, Craig needed someone who would put the kids first, and the new Dean of Students strives to give to our school just that. 

“The most important things to me are probably family; other people like students, coworkers, and friends; and learning other cultures,” said Gavin. 

To add to that, he even laid out how he always clears time for students to come and talk at any time. One of his goals is to connect with all of the students.

He said, “I want  to be seen as someone who works their hardest to give every student an equally fun experience during their high school years.” 

One of the ways he plans to achieve that is to attend sporting events or plays.

Why come to Craig as a Dean of Students? 

Mr. Gavin was interested in a bigger school after teaching at Poynette Middle School which is about 30 minutes north of Madison. 

Being a Spanish teacher, he found a love for connecting with each of his students but wasn’t satisfied with where he was at. 

Instead, he wanted to make that bigger impact on a bigger group of students by becoming a dean of students. Even then, he only had around 300 to 320 high school students which led to the big change of being moved to Craig.

Coming from the small town of De Pere in the Green Bay area, he spent his school years growing fond of the world and the various cultures.

This interest led him to go to college and major in Spanish and history at UW Madison. He also studied abroad and visited many European cities like London, Paris, Rome, Athens, and many places around Spain. 

From there, he married his wife who also shared a love for Spanish. 

Some of his life goals are to get his own house, continue traveling to every continent, and get a PhD. 

For now, though, Craig feels like home for him. 

He appreciates the variety of classes that Craig offers and hopes to use those different classes to grow more fond of everyone’s various hobbies. 

He gives major credit to Mr. Allen, who was his teacher and coach during high school. Mr. Allen inspired Mr. Gavin in the ways that he managed to be bubbly and full of energy during his 7:00 AM classes. Mr. Gavin strives to wear the same smile as his mentor and share it with students.

With having 3 younger siblings varying in age, Mr. Gavin has always been a leader in different ways. 

He strives to connect with today’s generation whether it be his different tastes in music from rap and hip hop to classic rock. 

He loves books like Friday Night Lights by H. G. Bissinger which dealt with high school football as well as more fantasy books like the Harry Potter series. Not to stop there, he expressed a love for The Dark Knight with Heath Ledger as the Joker. 

Even if you don’t know the actor or the movie, he also loves classics such as Friends, Steinfeld, New Girl, The Office, and more. 

Despite growing up in the same general area of De Pere, Wisconsin, Mr. Gavin found himself moving around a lot before the 3rd grade. His father was in the military, so he remembers the struggle of being a new student. 

He still remembers his first day of high school. At his school, it was a little different than Craig in the way that they had a “zero” period before the first period. 

Not understanding this, he ran into his first hour period, thinking he was totally late, only to realize he ran into a class of upperclassmen in the middle of a lesson! 

Mr. Gavin laughed, remembering how the teacher tried to help him, but he only ran out of the room. 

“After that, I learned his way around,” he said.  

As for hobbies, he loves watching or playing sports as well as taking time on Duolingo to learn more languages that will help him in his dreams to travel the world. 

Although he could see himself being a coach or club advisor for the many clubs at Craig for activities he enjoys, he must decline to reserve his time before, after, during, and outside of school for any students who need to talk as soon as possible. 

However, his unavailability to be a coach or advisor ensures that he will try his best to attend any event he can to cheer on Craig High School.

Mr. Gavin took this job to be able to look into the interests and needs of students, whether that be talking about school activities or problems. 

He warns that this might sound confusing coming from an administrator who is in charge of discipline. 

“Take high school seriously and work hard to get good grades while trying to find out what you are interested in for after high school, but at the same time, try to have fun and take things slow,” Gavin said. 

“I wish I  had more time to try something new,” he said. 

He especially believes that in a school with a variety of clubs and activities like music, tech, and sports, a student should not be afraid to find something new or different.

“You never know where that will take you,” he said. 

Mr. Gavin’s path took him to become Craig’s dean of students, and Craig High School is happy to have him, especially to lighten the difficult times we encounter now.