Students at two elementary schools on Joint Base Lewis-McChord will welcome new principals when the school year starts on Sept. 7.

Paula Gayson, previously the assistant principal at Pioneer Middle School in DuPont, has taken over the reins at Clarkmoor Elementary, located near the I Corps Headquarters, and Diana Dix has moved up to become principal at Evergreen Elementary, located near the Hillside housing area.

With 18 years in education and eight as assistant principal of Pioneer, Gayson brings a wealth of experience to her role as principal. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education and a Masters of Education from Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore., and received her administrator's license from Lewis and Clark College in Portland.

Though there was an opening for the principal position available at Pioneer, Gayson wanted her first job as a principal to be somewhere new. "I decided it was time for a change," she said. "Eight years is a long time."

But Gayson doesn't want to come in to Clarkmoor, which has an enrollment of about 300 students, and make her mark by changing things drastically.  

"It's already a strong school," she said. "I want to continue to build on that. I don't have an agenda to come in and change anything. I want to (go from) good to great."

Like Gayson, Dix also has years of experience in education - most of it on JBLM. She worked for 15 years as a resource room teacher at Greenwood Elementary, also on JBLM, and moved to Evergreen - with more than 700 students, the largest elementary school in the district - in 2006. She's been the assistant principal there for the past three years. Dix said she enjoys working with military families. "It's a very interesting culture," she said. "They have a culture of their own, and make more accommodations for people who are different because everyone's different."

Photo caption: New Evergreen Elementary principal Diana Dix wants to make sure the school is a place where students can feel safe and be successful. /Melanie Casey