2nd-grader is principal for day

Friday was pretty busy for 8-year-old Jenna Brandkamp.

As principal for a day at Wilson Elementary School, there were awards to give out, papers to sign, announcements to make and a meeting with architects to discuss plans for new heating systems at the school.

The good news was that Brandkamp didn’t have to take a spelling test. The second-grader sent the real woman in charge, Principal Rita Forsythe, to do it for her.

“If you need a pencil sharpener, there’s one in my school pouch, on my desk,” Brandkamp told her principal as she left to take the exam. “Good luck.”

Brandkamp won the opportunity to fill Forsythe’s shoes for the day at the school’s auction in February. The annual auction raised $25,000 for math and science programs at Wilson.

After a tour around Forsythe’s office, the girl sat herself behind the principal’s desk and prepared for the morning announcements.

“She looks really comfortable in that chair,” said Brandkamp’s mother, Michelle.

“Initially she wanted to give the secretaries the day off and lengthen recess,” her mother said. “That was put on hold.”

There were too many other things to do. Like the morning “walk through,” visiting various classrooms.

In Lisa Miles-Conrad’s sixth-grade classroom, Brandkamp looked over Polly Blakely’s papers to see how the student was preparing for the WASL.

“OK,” she said before moving on.

Although longer recess and pizza for everyone was vetoed by the real school officials, Brandkamp did get to have two of her friends, Clara Moravec, 8, and Peyton Hockett, 7, assist her with duties in the office. The pair took over for school secretaries, Mrs. Lutz and Mrs. DeRoshia, briefly answering phones and manning the front desk.

And the spelling test?

“I think I got 100 percent, we’ll see,” Forsythe reported back to Brandkamp after taking the exam. “I couldn’t remember if choosing had one or two O’s.”