FMS has a wonderful community filled with many amazing people who help bring it all together. Our assistant principals and principals of FMS oversee everything and can help guide students toward their goals. But have you ever wanted to know more about our assistant principals? This year, we wanted to share a little bit about our assistant principals to get to know them even better. We are so excited to share what we have learned about Ms. Christina Roman, and hope you’ll enjoy getting to know her as much as we did.
Falcon Press: What are your hobbies?
Ms. Christina Roman: I love to travel. My favorite place to travel is Disney. I have been there over 30 times, and my second favorite type of travel is a cruise. I’ve been to many islands in the Caribbean through cruises, and I go with my family. Normally there are 13 or more of us. I go to the gym after school, love to volunteer for a sorority I was in during college, and spend a lot of time helping the girls in the chapter where I went to school.
FP: What’s your go-to movie for movie night?
CR: Remember the Titans. It’s a Disney movie based on a true story of a high school football team that was faced with the challenges of integration.
FP: If you had to listen to only one song for the rest of your life, what would it be?
CR: “Can’t Stop the Feeling” by Justin Timberlake. It’s just happy and it’s one of those songs that when you hear it you just want to dance!
FP: Would you rather sit in a window seat or aisle seat?
CR: Window seat, because I make some sort of pillow and sleep against the window. I also like looking out of the window and seeing the sky and how close I am to the ground!
FP: If you had to live in one season for the rest of your life, which one would it be?
CR: The fall, because it’s not too hot or cold and is just in between. I also love seeing the leaves change color!
FP: If you had to eat one food every day, what would it be?
CR: Any kind of Pizza!
FP: What’s your favorite Morristown restaurant?
CR: Chick-fil-A. I used to not like Chick-fil-A; I didn’t get why everyone liked it. Then I discovered Chick-fil-A sauce and totally understand.
FP: If you could have any other job, what would it be?
CR: I have always wanted to be a teacher, so that’s a hard one for me. If I really had to choose, I would do anything at Disney!
FP: What do you think is the perfect amount of homework each night?
CR: I think about 60 minutes for 6th, 70 for 7th, and 80 for 8th to help prepare for high school. But it also shouldn’t totally consume your afternoon, because I understand that you have other things to do.
FP: Why did you become an assistant principal?
CR: I would like to be able to have a larger impact and work with more students than you can in a single classroom. For perspective, I had 60 students in my classroom and about 400 that I work with now.
FP: What is your favorite part about being a principal?
CR: Getting to know the students, their likes and dislikes, and being someone that the students know that they can trust and come to if they need anything.
FP: What is your favorite thing about FMS and the Morris School District?
CR: I think my favorite thing is how many different opportunities we have for students to get involved. Students can try something new if they want to, or have something that they are already passionate about. I think we give the opportunity for students to find their people, the people who are interested in similar things, and I think that is an amazing opportunity the school district gives.
FP: If you could change anything about the school what would it be?
CR: For you to all have recess every day. I think that that would really help during lunchtime because even though lunchtime is only 25 minutes, it sometimes feels much longer, and if you have time to run around and let out your energy, it may help you to get through your day a little better, and I think that you all would enjoy it.
FP: What do you like about the new school system and the new housing arrangement? What do you think has improved?
CR: I do like that the 6th graders get to have their own space because transitioning from 5th to 6th grade is a big transition. 7th and 8th grade is also separate so we as teachers can focus on those students more. I feel like it’s very helpful to be able to focus on each grade specifically.
FP: What things would you like to change about the new school system and the new housing arrangement? What could be improved further?
CR: I think it would be really cool if there was some time that 7th and 8th graders could mentor the 6th graders so we are not all separated, and we could come together as one big school. It would help give a taste of what 7th and 8th grade is like to the 6th graders.
FP: Do you have any new ideas for this school year?
CR: I would love to increase participation during spirit weeks and involve the student council’s ideas for the week, so it’s not just coming from us but coming from students’ ideas.
FP: What are your goals for the school year?
CR: My goals for the school year are for us to have a safe environment here, for students to feel like they are welcomed and belong here, and for students to feel like they have at least one trusted adult in the building to go to if they would ever need anything. Another goal is to work with each of your teachers to make sure that you are getting the best instruction possible in each of your classes.
FP: What is a quote that you live by?
CR: ‘Clear eyes, Full hearts, Can’t lose!’ from Friday Night Lights. “Clear eyes” to me means never losing sight of the ultimate goal; to stay focused. “Full hearts” means that what you do comes from your heart, and “can’t lose” means that if you do things authentically out of the kindness of your heart, more times than not you will be able to find success.
FP: What is some advice that you have for the school year and FMS students?
CR: For the 6th graders, my advice would be to try something new, because even though that can be uncomfortable sometimes, that new thing you tried could be something you love doing for the rest of your life and you’ll get to know people who have the same interests as you. For all FMS students, my advice would be to lead under the idea that we are all here to take care of one another. If we can lead with that mindset, we can all come to a place where we can lift each other up. So that would be my advice: to try to lift someone up today.
Our assistant principals do so much to help us on a day-to-day basis in school, and even outside of school! But our assistant principals also might like to travel or love pizza like Ms. Roman, and we might never get to learn about that on a day-to-day basis in school! Ms. Roman and all of our administrative staff and staff in FMS are absolutely amazing, and I hope you got to know a little more about Ms. Roman than you did before. Day by day, we can get to know more about our whole FMS staff, and become a more and more connected school. If you learned something new about Ms. Roman, then you might realize that you have a lot more in common than you thought you had.
