Hempfield NOVEMBER 19, 2025
SERVING OUR COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
REACHING MORE THAN 10,110 HOMES
Principal Embraces Dream Job
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door opened for Amanda Calhoun. Now she is opening doors for others. On July 1, Calhoun started her dream job as principal of the school in her backyard, East Petersburg Elementary. “It’s been awesome,” she said. “It’s just been a thrill to be able to serve my community in this role as a principal. The whole summer felt like a lot of anticipation for the school year to come, and I was just really excited for the students to get here, so it was great. It was great on Aug. 19 when we had our Sneak Peek. Aug. 20, we got students in, and since then it’s just been really, really awesome to serve in this way.” There are always new adventures and opportunities. “What I love about the principalship is that it is different every single day,” Calhoun said. “I love the excitement of there’s a routine to a school day, but what I will be doing is different moment to moment. Oftentimes, I’ll find myself getting into classrooms to see what the instruction looks like. One of the things I love to do this year is I eat lunch with the students, so I’ll pop into varying grade levels and just eat with them, see what’s going on. It’s very exciting and very different from kindergarten through sixth grade, very different conversations.” Calhoun roams the building ready to assist in any way she can. “I love to be able to walk the halls, provide support for teachers in whatever they need or whatever is going on during the day,” she said. “I think a catchall for me is I open doors for learning. So if there’s a behavioral thing that’s going on that needs to be addressed, it’s my role to be able to help everyone
VOL XLI • NO 33
Where Young Men Find New Beginnings BY CAT SHANNON
said. “Students were graduating and taking off into adulthood, and my first day of school here, we had 5-year-olds stepping in for their very first day in school. It is so wonderful to see that full continuum throughout my career, to be able to see now I’m here, where students begin, and I’ve seen where they need to be at the end.” She has found her calling at East Pete. “I love the energy that elementary brings,” Calhoun said.
Within the walls of Manos House in Columbia, a new generation is finding its footing. At the nonprofit residential program for young men ages 14 to 20 with drug and alcohol histories, transformation happens every day through structure, compassion and a belief in second chances. “ We fo c u s o n a h o l i s t i c approach,” said executive director Chris Runkle. “ We ser ve their needs from the substance use side, but we also serve their educational and emotional health needs as well.” Manos House has been guiding young men through that challenge since 1972. Originally founded as a halfway house for adults transitioning out of prison, the organization shifted its focus to adolescents, offering substance use treatment, counseling and education under one roof. The education piece was especially needed, Runkle said. “Our kids are coming in highly deficient in academic credits,” he explained. “We may get an 18-year-old who has zero high school credits.” To remedy the issue, Manos House opened Prospect Grove High School, an on-site school with certified teachers and a small student-to-teacher ratio. Although the school helped with one piece of the problem, the young men needed support in another area as well. “We were seeing the young men being discharged after completing their program, but then we realized the homes they were
See Principal pg 2
See Manos House pg 4
Amanda Calhoun
access learning again. If there’s maybe something that needs to be worked out with peers, how can we engage our team to be able to make sure that those students can get back to learning and being their best selves?” Prior to become principal at East Pete, Calhoun served as an assistant principal at Ephrata High School for seven years. “It’s so funny because I think about my last day of school and my previous position,” she
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