CC#111: Homegrown, Hometown Pride w/ Principal Eric Filippi of Wichita Heights - USD 259

In this episode of Cool Coffee with Kansas principals, host Rick Sola interviews Principal Eric Filippi, the principal of Wichita Heights High School. They discuss Eric's journey from student to principal, the importance of building relationships with students, and innovative programs implemented at Wichita Heights. Eric shares insights on community engagement, the significance of alumni connections, and advice for new administrators, emphasizing self-care and teamwork in educational leadership. Connect with Principal Filippi (mailto:[email protected]) Contact host Principal Rick Sola: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected],)  or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) The mission of the Kansas Principals Association (https://www.ksprincipals.org/o/kpa) , an organization committed to educational excellence and the lifelong success of all students, is to develop and support all principals through optimized learning, collaborative leadership, networking, and service. Read more about the KPA HERE (https://www.ksprincipals.org/o/kpa) . Provide Cool Coffee feedback! Click HERE (https://forms.gle/nSVj4nNw1Yn74WVu8) to share thoughts and suggestions--including guests to have on the show! Click for ALL Cool Coffee (https://coolcoffee.podbean.com/) episodes! Connect with Cool Coffee on... Follow us on X: @KSPrincipals (https://x.com/KPACoolCoffee) ; @KPACoolCoffee (https://x.com/KPACoolCoffee) Facebook: KSPrincipals (  / ksprincipals  ) Contact host Principal Rick Sola: [email protected] (mailto:[email protected],)  or [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) Chapters • 00:00 Introduction to Principal Eric Filippi • 04:33 The Journey to Becoming a Principal • 08:54 Building Relationships in Education • 17:28 Innovative Programs at Wichita Heights • 26:45 The Importance of Community Engagement • 31:52 Advice for New Administrators --------------------------------------------------------- FULL Episode Transcript (AI generated) Rick Sola (00:02.059) Hello and welcome to Cool Coffee with Kansas principals. I'm here today with principal Eric Filippi, proud principal of Wichita Heights High School, USD 259, home of the Falcons. And Eric is also Wichita Heights alumni from the class of 1992. Eric, welcome.   Eric FIlippi (00:22.254) Thank you, thank you, appreciate you having me.   Rick Sola (00:24.662) Yeah, glad to have you on today. we were just talking before hitting record here, principal Eric Filippi, but you said everybody calls you flip.   Eric FIlippi (00:35.424) Everybody calls me Flip, everyone except for my mom and my wife. So from our superintendent, everyone, it's always Flip.   Rick Sola (00:42.902) Well, I appreciate the heads up on that and the permission to call you flip on here. like I said, glad to have you on. So you are one of now a growing list of principals coming onto this show that have been recommended by somebody else in the state, which is really awesome. And so I appreciate you responding when I reached out. And it's cool to have people on here that.   have been recommended. So I don't know if you want to thank that person or if you want to blame that person, however you're viewing this right now.   Eric FIlippi (01:17.238) I will absolutely, Mr. Shelf will absolutely get some recommendations from me for sure. So no, I appreciate that he thought of me when you, he was in one of your sessions, I believe at a conference. And I appreciate that he thought of me that I'd have some information that somebody might find useful.   Rick Sola (01:21.236) Yeah.   Rick Sola (01:39.948) Yeah, no, and like I said, I'm excited to have you on and we are recording this. It's January 21st and we have had a really mild winter and I'm assuming down in Wichita, it's kind of like up here in Kansas City area. We haven't had a snow day yet this year, but we are on the cusp of some major action going on here in a couple of days, kind of off the outline of topics here, but what's it looking like for you in Wichita?   Eric FIlippi (02:07.406) Well, the conversation that I literally had before I turned on our computer here, it was the weather for the weekend. We're trying to get our girls wrestling tournament. So we have an Olathe school that was supposed to be coming down and we have liberal coming in. And so right now we're trying to get that shifted to if we can get that shifted to Friday and try to get it in on Friday before the Saturday weather really hits.   you know, anywhere from 5 to 13 inches, which is absolutely crazy that those are the numbers that we get. But yeah, we're looking, we're looking for some definitely cold weather and it's a kind of a, a crap shoot as far as what the precipita...