Jeni Hirschy
Jeni Hirschy
Riverside Intermediate School Principal
Riverside Intermediate School Principal Jeni Hirschy will retire after 36 years in education. She has worked in four positions during her 21-year career with Plymouth Community School Corporation. For ten years, Hirschy was the assistant principal at Lincoln Junior High from 1997 to 2007. The following year she assumed the dual position of being the assistant principal at both Riverside Intermediate School and Lincoln Junior High School. Hirschy said one of her biggest education accomplishments was during this role when she assisted in the planning and implementation of Riverside Intermediate School. She has served on the board member of the Indiana Middle Level Educators Association (IMLEA) here in the Hoosier state as well; a board she has proudly served on for the past six years.
The following four years from 2008 to 2012 she held the title of assistant principal at Riverside. Since 2012, Hirschy has been the principal at Riverside Intermediate School, a position she will continue to hold until she officially retires on Thursday, June 21, 2018.
Hirschy began her career teaching physical education, health, and home economics from 1980 to 1986 at Homestead High School, where she was also the gymnastics coach. The team under her leadership won three IHSAA state championships for three consecutive years. Although early in her tenure, she holds this experience as one of her highlights in her career.
In the mid 80’s, Hirschy worked outside of education for a two-year period as a fitness specialist for Caylor-Nickel Medical Center, in Bluffton, IN. However, that was short-lived, as she quickly returned to education, teaching physical education and health from 1988 to 1992 at Southern Wells Jr.-Sr. High School, which is located south of Fort Wayne.
Prior to coming on board here at PCSC, Hirschy held the position of assistant principal at DeKalb High School from 1992 to 1997.
She received her bachelor's, master’s, and education administrative certificate from Ball State University.
She said she always knew early on as a child she wanted to go into education and become a teacher; after all the profession runs in her genes, both of her grandmothers were teachers.
Announcing her retirement hasn’t come easy. “It has been a very tough decision for me as school has been my main focus for many years. I most certainly will miss the daily interactions with the Riverside staff. I will miss the school community and daily relationships with my school family. I enjoyed working with my colleagues here at Plymouth schools,” said Hirschy.
As for what she won’t miss so much in education, “I will not miss the time I spend answering emails in the evenings. Some of the work will not be missed. I also will not miss the constant thinking about school improvement,” Hirschy said.
She looks forward to visiting her own family, being able to go away whenever she would like, and much warmer winters. “I plan to spend my winter months in Florida at our home in Sebring, Florida. I will spend time playing golf and relaxing at my backyard pool in Florida during the winter months with my husband Bruce. I would like to go back to reading books that are non-educational.
The Hirschy’s will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this July. The couple have two adult children; a son Kreigh, who lives in Indianapolis and a daughter, KaLyn who lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Kreigh is a Web Developer and KaLyn is currently a substitute teacher who is married to an officer in the United States Air Force.
After retirement you will not have to travel all the way to a Florida golf course to catch a glimpse of Hirschy, she is excited to announce she has already lined up a part-time job at Swan Lake as a seasonal employee.
As she’ll be closing the chapter on her career next month she wants her fellow and former colleagues to know, “I very much appreciate the support of the PCSC administration throughout the years, and the support in all corporations that I have worked for throughout my career. I have built many friendships throughout the years that I will continue to cherish.”
