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Health & Fitness

WAMS' New Principal to Share Her Passion for the Arts

Lauren Elias blends a fine theatrical resume with her new role as principal at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School.

Lauren Elias is the new principal at the Waterbury Arts Magnet School and she is thrilled to be in a position that she has wanted since the building opened. "The arts are my passion," she told me during a recent interview in her new office.

Ms. Elias took over the position vacated by Leo P. Lavallee at the end of the 2013-2014 school year. She comes from a family of educators, with a mother who was an art teacher and a father who was a school administrator in Waterbury. Her previous position was the principal of the 600 students at Tinker Elementary School in Waterbury.

While she led Tinker Elementary, Ms. Elias volunteered to direct 15 musicals with any student in grades one through five that wanted to be involved. The productions usually involved one hundred students and many members of the faculty and staff. The director also took care of the choreography and costumes. Rehearsals began in September with the performances in April, so the entire process took lots of dedication on the part of the director and the students involved, not to mention their parents.

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Some of the shows that ran at what WATR's Tom Chute calls "The Tinkerbell School" include Annie, Alice in Wonderland, Dear Edwina, Yes Virginia, and Seussical. In 2011 the show was Schoolhouse Rock and for The Little Mermaid in 2012, fifteen staff members joined the production to play penguins. High School Musical included 27 staff members as cheerleaders. Their proud director showed me a framed photo of the teachers and staff members in their costumes and remembered how much fun everyone had had during the rehearsal process.

Ms. Elias feels that being a good principal is all about relationships with students, staff members and parents and the requisite trust and respect. She believes that the school is a community where she plans to work collaboratively with all stakeholders. Being highly organized is another requirement for the job, as well as having a team to help her work together to manage the budget. It is truly a "team effort" to run the school that serves students from Waterbury and surrounding towns in grades six through 12. The new vice principal Richard M. Arroyo will be part of that group and right now the principal has no plans to change any of the performances and other activities that have historically happened at WAMS, trusting that the faculty knows what they are doing.

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WAMS' new principal did her undergraduate degree at Central CT State University. She returned to Central for her master's degree in remedial reading and her sixth year in educational leadership. She is currently working on another master's degree in special education at St. Joseph's.

She has worked in the Waterbury school system for 26 years and spent 12 years at Sprague Elementary School as a first grade teacher, a position that was very close to her heart. We agreed that at no other level do teachers see their students make so much growth.

In an article in the Republican-American announcing the appointment of three city principals, Michael Puffer spoke with Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Ouellette about the newly chosen WAMS principal. Dr. Ouellette is quoted as saying that  Ms. Elias is a "well-rounded" principal and the fact that "she also has a very strong passion for the arts."

In her free time this busy educator loves to head to Broadway to take in a show. She very much enjoys being involved in community theater and has appeared in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Annie and How to Succeed... at Seven Angels Theatre all under the direction of Mr. Chute, and was also in the recent Young Frankenstein  by Landmark Community Theater at the Thomaston Opera House. This past weekend she sat in the audience for a performance of Mary Poppins at the TOH with her former cast mate Katie Brunetto in the title role.

I enjoyed speaking with Ms. Elias and look forward to a great school year covering the upcoming productions at WAMS.
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