GRANITE QUARRY — East Rowan High School is familiar territory for Tonya German. She graduated from the school in 1992, and this year is returning as its new principal.

“Honestly, a lot of it still looks the same. It still has the same feel. … It feels like home,” she said.

German, 42, is the former principal of Corriher-Lipe Middle School. This will be her first time teaching high school.

German said she doesn’t plan to roll out any new initiatives or programs. Instead, her first order of business is to watch and listen. “So listening to what the parents have to say, the teachers, the students,” she said.

Together, she hopes everyone can choose a direction and a vision for the school.

However, one of her goals to cultivate and restore a sense of palpable school pride. She also hopes to partner with Erwin Middle School and form a close partnership that will help ease students into the transition from middle to high school. It’s a relationship that only makes sense, she said.

“We have the same families,” she said, “we’re serving the same population.”

German earned her undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University in biology and secondary education. She earned her master’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and a degree in school administration from Appalachian State University.

She lives in Granite Quarry with husband Daniel German and two daughters, Caylynn, a 2017 graduate of East Rowan, and Bella, age 8.

German said she is “looking forward to a good year — to coming back to Mustang country.”

“It really is good to be back home,” she said.