The Foothills Composite recently welcomed a new principal.

Kerry Welsh took over at the start of the new semester earlier this month.

Welsh's career in education started 27 years ago in Ontario, though she's been teaching in the Foothills for about 15 years.

She's sure to be a familiar face to many in the area.

"My first position was at Percy Pegler School in 2007, I replaced a maternity leave in French immersion and shortly thereafter ended up at Cayley as the vice principal. Then, right after the flood in High River, I was the vice principal at Joe Clark for four and a half years, then I went on to Okotoks Junior High where I was the vice principal for three years."

Just before moving over to the Composite, she was the principal at the Foothills Digital School.

Foothills Digital was formerly known as Hub@Home but became a full school over a year ago.

Something that's made the transition a little easier is the fact that she's been seeing some familiar faces.

"I'm really fortunate because any of the students who have come from Okotoks Junior High were all there when I was. In particular, the students in grade 11 were the students I followed through Okotoks Junior High. I'm getting a lot of smiles and luckily I have a good memory so I'm speaking with a lot of students who I remember."

She's feeling comfortable after a few weeks in the role, and can't wait to get herself ingrained into the school's culture and community.

"What I think is really great and why I applied to the position is that the collaboration and the sense of community in the Foothills School Division in general, but particularly at the high school level is admirable. I know from having other experiences that we're unique and we offer those opportunities for kids so I'm really proud to be a part of that and I'm excited to learn more and contribute to this community."