Published: September 12, 2008 10:08 am      

A matter of principal: Kuhn has passion for family, students and writing

By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

This local boy has been all over the Americas, but still credits his Perrin-Whitt education for propelling his latest achievements.

At 34, John Kuhn is better known to many as the Mineral Wells High School principal.

During his day job, he stays accessible via the latest technology. This could be e-mail, cell phone, or working with software – scheduling programs, student management, teacher evaluation, work orders and the bell system – and more recently an automated calling program that contacts parents and staff via phone message.

“It sure makes it easier – as soon as you can find out about issues the sooner you can address them – it’s about efficiency,” said Kuhn.

“There’s a good feeling when you’ve made something better than it was before,” he said about helping solve daily issues that arise when managing 120 staff, 979 students, about “a million extracurricular programs” and a huge building that includes a 999-seat high school auditorium, which is also used by the community.

He gets to work by 7 a.m. and his day never ends before 5 p.m. – sometimes midnight on activity nights like Thursday’s freshmen and junior varsity football games in Midlothian.

“You want to support the kids and be visible and accessible,” he said about attending after-school events.

But this is just his day job.

In his spare time – whether during the school year or summer – Kuhn doesn’t sit idle – for if he does it’s not moss he has to worry about; its his three children – Noah, Evan and Liliana – who are likely to climb all over him if he’s still.

This summer, Kuhn worked on his side passion of writing, mainly inspired by his Perrin-Whitt CISD English teacher Sherry Brown.

“I’ve been writing ever since high school,” Kuhn said. “It’s a hobby. Some guys play golf, I like to write.

“I always wanted to write a book,” said Kuhn, who is expecting his first book this fall, titled “Texas Eccentrics.” His impetus for writing the book came from a press release from Atriad, a small Dallas-based publisher, calling for “humorous Texas non-fiction.”

After reading this, he first thought of “people like Stanley Marsh 3 [who commissioned Amarillo’s Cadillac Ranch installation] then Howard Hughes.”

“With that seed of an idea, I began looking for obscure ones and came up with 10-15 people,” Kuhn said.

Next, he checked to see if any books were already published on the topic and he came across Gene Fowler’s “Mavericks: A Gallery of Texas Characters” published by University of Texas Press. This was “very scholarly” and “not as accessible to the regular person,” Kuhn said. He thought, “I can do one about Texas eccentrics and do it in a different tone.”

So Kuhn – “writing from the home of Crazy” as he states in his foreword – wrote a proposal to Atriad about his book.

“…the fictionalized weird Texans are no stranger than many real-life weird Texans, not to mention weird adopted Texans,” Kuhn writes.

“Eccentricity reached Texas long before electricity,” he adds. “Almost every Texas town boasts its very own odd character.”

He wrote about so many Texas characters, Atriad made him cut out five to 10 people.

Kuhn’s survey consists of 119 Texas eccentrics, categorized by “Bizarre Businesspeople,” “Peculiar Politicians,” “Strange Sports Figures,” “Atypical Artists” and “Other Oddballs.”

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To date, Kuhn has published 39 stories, articles and poems ranging from those with no compensation to professional writing – something he began two years ago.

One such professional article, “Should ‘My Space’ be Your Space,” appeared in the magazine Breakaway for Christian teen boys. It examined the pros and cons of whether the international Web site/forum My Space is good for teens.

Non-fiction is not his only interest. Kuhn likes “speculative fiction, like the “Twilight Zone.” “The Last Coca Cola,” in this genre, is a fictional short story about a “dysfunctional future where guys find the last unopened Coca Cola.”

He wrote this several months ago for a publication called Wrong World. Kuhn said the publication is a magazine on DVD, read on the computer or television screen.

Kuhn finds magazines through the Writer’s Market, available in bookstores, and through Web sites, like Duotrope’s Digest, which has a searchable database at www.duotrope.com.

“I curtail [writing] while starting school,” he said, adding he can spend more time writing later during the year and during the summer. Unlike last year – when he and wife, Noelia, both worked at the high school, he’s the household’s only working parent working this year – Noelia opted to stay at home this year, since Liliana is 1.

“I have three little kids running around while I’m writing at home,” said Kuhn who has a home office. “I usually [write] after they go to bed.”

“Like fishing, I do it whenever I can … as a hobby,” he added of what he considers strictly an extracurricular activity.

How does this affect his job? Kuhn said they now offer creative writing at the high school – something he said he is very glad about. He added that they are hoping to launch a literary journal this year that features student writing.

“For the second year in a row Mineral Wells High School students will participate in a collaborative writing project with author Mike Kearby, also from Mineral Wells,” said Kuhn, who doesn’t take credit for the program but is excited about it.

But don’t go away thinking all Kuhn did was write in his spare time this summer. He also attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.

He was one of 99 principals from across the state selected to participate in one of four leadership seminars at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He and the other Texas principals were sponsored by Raise Your Hand Texas, an education coalition founded and supported by business and community leaders.

In his blog entry, Kuhn called his participation in the 10-day seminar, titled “The Art of Leadership,” “an experience of a lifetime.”

“I hope that we, the principals of Texas entrusted with this life-changing experience, will likewise raise our cities and towns on our shoulders and leave them richer, stronger, and brighter for future generations. No one can undo the good that we bring about,” Kuhn wrote.

“We heard from about a dozen nationally known experts in a variety of very important fields related to education,” Kuhn recalled about the seminar.

“One man was a writing expert and talked about the importance of teaching writing in your school. One woman was assistant chancellor of New York City schools and talked about educational reform,” he said.

Kuhn shared that he is trying to implement the concept of teachers being included in the community of learners. Before school started, he asked teachers “to do something big this year and be learners themselves.”