HEREABOUTS virginia burroughs
For Dayton native Therman Sampson II, E.J. Brown Pre-K-8 School is part of both his past and present. Sampson was a student at E.J. Brown in third grade, when it was an elementary school. He also was a student there in eighth and ninth grades, when it was a junior high. This year, he’s returned to the new E.J. Brown as assistant principal.
Like the building, Sampson’s been through changes since the years he attended as a student.
“I graduated from Colonel White and went to Knoxville College,” he said. “After receiving my B.S. in elementary education, I returned to Dayton and taught third grade at Meadowdale Elementary School.
“I was given the opportunity to serve as assistant principal at Miami Chapel/Louise Troy Elementary and worked there for about two years.”
Then, he accepted a position as principal of Erie Elementary School in Elyria, where he worked for five years. “During this time, I continued to travel back and forth to Dayton on the weekends,” because he is director of the New Zion Missionary Baptist church choir.
His father, Therman Sampson Sr., who retired from DPS after 30 years as a teacher and administrator, also has been the pastor at New Zion on Second Street for 41 years.
“I got married in 2002 and moved closer to home in Cincinnati, where I served as a principal for seven years,” said Sampson II.
He and his wife also had three daughters during that time. “My reason for returning was to be closer to my parents. My dad needs my support at the church, so I have been very fortunate to be able to come back to Dayton and serve in an administrative position.
“It really feels good to be back. And I certainly hope that I will be able to relate to and support the learning and instructional environment at E.J. Brown.”
Although he had seen the outside of the new building, completed in 2008, during his trips home, he hadn’t been inside until he was appointed assistant principal. “I think they really laid it out well, and (I) love the attention to detail.
“It’s a beautiful building; a lot’s changed, but the students and the neighborhood are pretty much the same as when I was a student here. It’s really neat to return.”
Contact this columnist at virgburroughs@gmail.com.
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