Fountain Valley High welcomes new principal

FOUNTAIN VALLEY -- Fountain Valley High School students will have a

new principal when they return to campus in the fall.

Connie Mayhugh stepped into her first principal’s position July 3,

succeeding Gary Ernst, who retired at the end of the school year.

The 42-year-old Tustin resident has been in education for 11 years,

five of which she spent teaching.

“We’re just delighted to have an educator of Connie’s caliber come to

the district,” said Huntington Beach Union High School District Supt.

Susan Roper. “She brings a broad experience to the principalship.”

Mayhugh came to the district from University High School in Irvine,

where she served as assistant principal for two years. She also spent

nine years in the Santa Ana Unified School District as an English teacher

and assistant principal for various middle and high schools.

Education is Mayhugh’s second career. She also worked as a dental

assistant for four years, then taught dental assistants for two years.

“It was interesting,” she said of her former career. “When I had an

opportunity to teach, I really enjoyed that.”

She caught the teaching bug during her stint as a dental assistant

instructor. She went back to college, enrolling at Cal State Fullerton,

where she studied English and educational administration. She earned

bachelor’s and master’s degrees there, as well as her teaching

credential.

Mayhugh said she was drawn to teaching English by a love of reading

and writing.

“I grew up in and around schools and where education was highly

valued,” said Mayhugh, whose father was a teacher and her mother was a

school secretary.

She said she enjoys the contact she has with students and is looking

forward to her new position at Fountain Valley High.

The school “has a wonderful balance between academics and

extracurricular activities,” Mayhugh said. “It’s a school with a

wonderful reputation, strong programs for students and strong parent

support.”

Mayhugh moved to Orange County from Kansas when she was 3 but

considers herself a Southern California native. Her hobbies include

exercising, reading classic literature and mysteries, going to the

movies, and traveling. She and her husband, Robert, have an 18-year-old

daughter, Amy, who attends Cal State Long Beach.

The new principal will take a week off this month to relax on the

beach in San Diego with her husband before school starts Sept. 5.

“It’s an exciting time,” she said. “I have a lot to learn, but my

welcome into the community has been wonderful.”