Meet Mr. Chris Kenroy, Principal, Westwood Elementary School

Chris Kenroy is serving his ninth year as principal of Westwood Elementary School. Prior to his service at Westwood, Mr. Kenroy spent eleven years in San Antonio working as a teacher and then as an administrator.

Mr. Kenroy grew up in Mason, Michigan. He attended Olivet Nazarene University where he received his bachelor degree in elementary education. He later studied at Lamar University in Houston for graduate study in education administration.

“My immediate family and I moved back to Michigan nine years ago in order to be closer to our family here,” he said. “We liked Portland as well as Westwood so I was very happy to accept a job at this school.”

Mr. Kenroy thinks highly of Westwood School.

“I love Westwood,” he said. “I love the staff with whom I work as well as the kids. We teach grade levels three through five and it represents an age group on which we can have a positive influence. We prepare the kids for middle school and for secondary education. We also prepare them to be good citizens when they reach adulthood by developing a good work ethic in them and by teaching them to be caring of others. By instilling these qualities in them we help them to achieve their goals as they grow older.”

Westwood Elementary School has been nominated as a National Showcase School by an international organization known as “Capturing Kids’ Hearts” This worldwide group focuses on developing the social and emotional well-being of young people. The organization’s goal is to help create good students that will make a contribution to their respective communities as adults.

“We will find out whether we have won the award in late spring of this year,” said Mr. Kenroy. “This is very important to us and it’s a very exciting prospect.”

Mr. Kenroy’s philosophy of education involves the belief that every child can achieve what they set out to do if they receive proper guidance and encouragement.

“We meet young people where they are at and we help them to grow as students and as people,” he said. “Our staff is very growth-minded in that we create an environment in which kids can develop into healthy, community-oriented people. We feel that this focus should be the policy of every school and we make sure that it is our focus.”

For the future Mr. Kenroy wishes to continue adapting Westwood to the fast-changing educational environment and to a fast-changing world.

“We seek to personalize education in such a way that it meets the needs of every student and that it prepares them to be successful adults,” he said. 

“We feel that we will have been successful as educators and as administrators if we prepare young people to reach their goals as adults and if we help them to be all that they can be. This is how they may realize their dreams.”

Mr. Kenroy may be reached at (517) 647-2989 and at ckenroy@portlandk12.org. 

Courtesy photo.