If enthusiasm counts for much in educating adolescent teenagers, the San Marino Unified School District found a winner in Ryan Kachold, who recently was named assistant principal at Huntington Middle School.
Kachold was selected for the position from a pool of 92 applicants and will replace Daryl Topalian, who moved down the hall when he was named principal of Huntington after Alana Fauré was asked to take the same post at Valentine Elementary School.
Kachold has a bachelor’s degree in classical civilizations from UCLA, where he was a member of the Bruins’ volleyball and crew teams. He has a master’s degree from Brandman University in public administration and earned a second master’s from Pepperdine University in educational leadership and administration. He earned his teaching credential at Cal State Bakersfield and his administrative credential from Pepperdine.
Kachold graduated from Quartz Hill High School in Lancaster and was a member of the school’s CIF title-winning volleyball team in 2008.
“I am deeply excited and nervous and anxious and motivated,” Kachold said when he was introduced at a recent school board meeting, which he attended virtually. “I am super excited for all of the learning that is about to take place.”
On Monday, Kachold said those emotions have been transformed into “focused energy and excitement” with the start of school just a few days away.
“I am thrilled to be in the chair and working under Daryl,” Kachold continued. “It is great to be a moving part in the project to return to the learning environment at Huntington Middle School. And not just any environment, but a high-functioning environment like what we have here in San Marino.”
Most recently, Kachold taught English at Quartz Hill, which is in the Antelope Valley School District, while participating in an administrative intern program that provided experience in several different aspects of the educational process. He also coached boys’ volleyball at the school, and guided his squad to a CIF title game.
An Air Force reservist, Kachold is married to Paige, an elementary school special education teacher in the Lancaster School District. The couple has a 16-month-old daughter, Kenna.
“I am really looking forward to this opportunity and to working with Daryl,” Kachold said. “We have the same philosophy, which is to be always moving forward. I feel that teachers who are happy and feel supported provide the best education and I am hoping to be a part of that process here in San Marino.”
