Memorial's Mr. Adamakos is NH Principal of the Year

Arthur Adamakos received the Principal of the Year award
 with assistant principal Peter Perich, right,
and retired Memorial assistant principal Herve Tancrede, left
looking on. 

Arthur Adamakos, principal at Manchester Memorial High School, received the 2015 Charles A. Napoli Principal of the Year Award from the New Hampshire Association of School Principals. The annual award recognizes one outstanding secondary school principal in the state.

The nomination for Adamakos included high praise from Memorial’s faculty members, including one who wrote to the selection committee, “(Adamakos) is the epitome of a high school principal. He’s not afraid to get involved in students’ lives. He listens to their problems and teaches them life lessons they often do not receive at home.”

Adamakos is a 36-year veteran of Manchester School District, beginning in 1979 as a social studies teacher at Hillside Middle School. He spent nine years teaching in the classroom before accepting his first administrative position as assistant principal at West High School in 1988. Since then, he has served as principal of Hillside, took on his first stint as Memorial’s principal in 1995, spent two years as assistant superintendent for the school district, then returned to Memorial in his current role in 2002.

“I work with a great group of educators who make this school a warm and welcoming place,” said Adamakos. “My job is to come to school every day to help kids get their diplomas when sometimes they didn’t think it was possible.”

The first and only other time a Manchester principal was named Principal of the Year was in 1990 when West High School’s Bob Baines received the award.

“There’s no doubt that Mr. Adamakos deserves this honor,” said Dr. Debra Livingston, Manchester School District superintendent. “He shows a commitment to his school community and all aspects of education that raises the bar for other administrators in New Hampshire and beyond.”

As a state Principal of the Year recipient, Adamakos will represent New Hampshire in Washington, D.C., when the National Association of Secondary Principals names its national Principal of the Year in the fall.