If you ask most Judge students “What is Dean Douglas’s job here at Judge” the most common answer would probably be, “he makes us follow the rules, and gives out detentions.” But we wanted to find out what his job here at Judge actually entails and to get to know him a little better, outside of the everyday greetings in the halls.
We asked Dean Douglas “What do you do here at Judge?” But a question so simple sparked a long conversation, and in the end, we came to the conclusion that “I am a point of contact for students that help us build a culture on our campus that all of us feel proud about.” – Dean Douglas
When we are talking to friends who don’t go to Judge, he wants us to feel proud about our classes, where we go to school, and the community we are lucky to be a part of. “I want you to feel proud about the fact that you go to a Catholic school. I want you to feel proud about the fact that you wear a uniform, that you are held to a different standard.”
Regarding the beginning of the year, he acknowledged the tragedy of Nuer Deng, and how much of a light he had on the community and the impact he made. Out of such a terrible thing, he was able to see all the students come together, in love and support for one another. “I would say that our unbelievable tragedy with Nuer, gave us an opportunity to see what our community’s all about, to see everybody come together in support. Out of our worst moments, do we get to sort of experience and have really nice moments…it enables us to sort of take a breath and, and remember that, that we’re here for each other. So that’s been a really inspiring thing to see how our student body has responded to, to a really awful tragedy.”
Dean Douglas also acknowledges the fact that he does tend to be “the bad guy” or “the least liked administrator” on campus. But he hopes to have mutual respect with the students, though they may have to have hard conversations, or conversations that they might not like very much. That he hopes they respect each other, “I like to always lead with that respect. So we’ll never not put a student in a position where they feel disrespected in my office.” At the end of the day he wants to show you why there are better choices to make, and help you make the better choice in the future.
Dean Douglas and his wife welcomed a baby boy into the world six months ago, named Thomas James Douglas. Having a kid shift his perspectives. “He sort of fundamentally altered, kind of my experience…I think he makes me a better Dean.”
Dean Dougals would like to tell all the students that “ I’m just really proud of how our students have kicked off the second quarter. We finished quarter one really, really, really strong. I’m getting excited, for the playoffs, particularly our girls soccer team is dominant. So hopefully, you know, they don’t crush literally everybody. But that seems to be the trajectory. But it’s a really exciting time to be a judge. So well done. Let’s keep up the good work.”
