Driving past his old home on South Main Street after last week's Phillipsburg school board meeting, Greg Troxell said he had a surreal moment.

The 1990 Phillipsburg High School grad was now in charge of his alma mater.

"It's an honor and I'm humbled," Troxell said Friday. "I've been blessed. I really have been blessed."

Troxell, 37, of Palmer Township, takes over as principal after 15 years' experience in the district, including as assistant principal.

But Troxell is not the only new administrator slated to greet Warren County students in September.

At North Warren Regional High School, Louis Melchor, 54, of Pompton Plains, N.J., has stepped into the position of principal. Originally seeking a career in music, teaching crept up on him more than 20 years ago and hasn't let go.

Both men are preparing to lead their staffs and students in a time when the New Jersey Department of Education is redesigning secondary education. But to hear Troxell say it, the most essential goals of any principal will never change: student safety and academic greatness.

"That's every principal's end goal," he said. "If you keep that vision out there and keep focusing on it, it begins to shape what your school needs to be."

Beginnings at home and abroad

Melchor will not be working at his alma mater. To do that, he'd have to travel to South America, where the 54-year-old administrator attended a different high school with each grade level.

His junior and senior years were spent in the American High School of Caracas, Venezuela, and the American High School of Guayaquil, Ecuador, respectively. His father's job of training municipal mechanics meant Melchor became worldly at an unusually young age.

"It helped me adapt to change," he said. "It helped me get a deep perspective of the different way people are and their cultures."

Melchor's passion for music led him to an adjunct teaching opportunity at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., opening a door he'd never tried before.

Now pursuing a doctorate from Walden University, Melchor -- who has three children ages 18 to 30 -- has a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees in music education and administrative supervision from Jersey City University.

Troxell takes over after administrative shuffling in the district sent former high school principal Mary Jane Deutsch to the Office of Special Services.

Married with three children -- 2-year-old twins and a newborn daughter --Troxell said Phillipsburg has been a haven for him from childhood to fatherhood.

"It's been part of my fabric for 13 years as a student and for the last 15 years now as a career," he said.

Troxell earned a master's degree in educational administration from East Stroudsburg University in 1998, but he said he is most proud of his garnet and grey degree.

"That means a whole lot more to me than the other degrees I received after high school because that's the framework," Troxell said.

Looking forward

Troxell does not want any students in Phillipsburg High School to get lost in the shuffle, but with about 1,700 students attending, it's a constant battle, he said.

"They're not just falling through the cracks, they're being pushed through the cracks," he said.

Troxell believes the solution is to break down the population, as education research suggests, and attempt to personalize instruction.

"The only way we can personalize our high school and make it relevant to the kids is to break it up into smaller parts," he said.

Troxell's other challenge will be to prepare the staff and students for the transition into the brand new high school by 2013.

"That school is going to be twenty-first century ready for us, so we have to make sure we're twenty-first century ready for it," Troxell said.

For Melchor, building professional development opportunities and reaching out into the community will be key goals during his tenure.

"I'm very much into creating a professional learning culture," Melchor said.

By encouraging parental involvement in the education process, Melchor hopes to have the entire community learn about the good things going on in the halls of North Warren.

"The school is a very good place," Melchor said. "The staff here is passionate."

---

Greg Troxell is holding a meet and greet for parents and students to get better acquainted before the school year begins.

The event is slated for 7 p.m. Monday in the high school auditorium.