One constant in being a leader is not only to do a good job but to leave a legacy that people can remember you by. 

Principal Tim Hamblin plans to do just that.

“I want to have something memorable — that lasts forever for this campus,” he said.

Two “lasting gifts,” as Hamblin calls them, are the panther in the glass case in the main gym lobby and the bell outside the school’s main entrance. But they were bought for the old high school which is now the middle school. 

He made it his goal to push forward on projects like the new murals around school.

“I just very, very, very, very much believe that the school that you guys go to should have meaningful things,” he said.

Hamblin started raising funds for the bronze panther outside the gym more than a decade ago.

“It took me 12 years to raise the $45,000, but not a single tax dollar was spent on that or any of these other things either,” he said.

 He immediately moved onto the “Peekaboo Panther” mural in the gym that has the panther head and claws appearing over the stands, and now onto his most recent project – the mural at the main entrance of the school that showcases all the elementary and middle schools that feed into the high school. Hamblin believes in inclusivity.