It was 9:00 am on a Monday when Principal John Dodig had a meeting that left him “at a loss for words.”

The meeting was with the Staples Parent Teacher Association, informing him that the Connecticut Parent Teacher Association was going to honor him as the High School Principal of the Year.

On Thursday, April 30, both Principal John Dodig and Superintendent Elliott Landon will both be presented with awards from the Connecticut Parent Teacher Association (CTPTA). Landon will be honored as the 2015 Outstanding Superintendent.

The CTPTA will also be honoring Shelley Somers from Greenwich as the Middle School Principal of the Year, and Kristin Irvine from Bristol as the Elementary School Principal of the Year.

In order to be nominated for this award, 15 people wrote papers in support of Dodig’s candidacy.

“I must have turned red in the face, thanked them of course, and felt awkward and humbled by the information,” Dodig said.

Landon also described feeling “humbled” and said that he has “devoted the major portion of my life to passionately serving school children and working cooperatively and collaboratively with their parents to create school environments that put the interests of the children first.”

Students agree that these awards are well deserved.

Julia Rakin ’16 said that Dodig is “understanding and tries to make close relationships with as many students as he can.”

This relationship between the educator and the student is crucial to the school’s success.

Landon emphasized this when asked what makes an outstanding administrator.

He said it is simply someone who puts “the needs of all children first in everything one does.”