From School Counselor to Assistant Principal of the Year - IPA Talk

April 6, 2026  24 min

In this IPA Talk, Jason Leahy sits down with the Illinois Assistant Principal of the Year to talk about how a counseling background shapes the way she leads at Oregon Junior/Senior High School.

Shannon shares how she balances tough discipline conversations with the things that fill her cup, from a new teacher academy she helped build to daily cafeteria check-ins with students. She also opens up about changing student needs after Covid, coaching parents through hard conversations, and her upcoming dissertation on recruiting and sustaining school leaders in rural Illinois.

Links
Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@IllinoisPrincipalsAssociation?sub_confirmation=1
Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCjd05N0Zv_LkA_TaQS5w0ekHV_fHq9vN

#SchoolLeadership #ILPrincipals #IPATalk #AssistantPrincipal #StudentResilience

CHAPTERS

0:00 Meet Shannon Cremeens
2:15 Path to School Leadership
8:17 Changing Student Needs
14:43 Getting Involved with IPA
18:28 Sustaining Yourself as a Leader