Beaver Area High School welcomed nine new staff members for the 2019-2020 school year, including our new assistant principal, Mr. BJ Grinage.

Mr. Grinage is here for his first full year as an assistant principal after being assistant principal for half a year at Langley, a K-8 Pittsburgh public school, and a social studies and science teacher at CAPA, a performing arts school also in Pittsburgh.

Mr. Grinage grew up in North Carolina and went to a high school called Greensboro Day School. Mr. Grinage also is studying at the University of Pittsburgh to get his curriculum instruction certificate which will allow him to oversee how curriculum is developed and how it will move forward.

So far, Grinage feels like he’s most looking forward to getting to know students and the different cultures in Beaver Area. He’s already picked up a lot about the different personalities of students and how accepting everyone has been toward him.

“I don’t want to move furniture, I just want to bump it,” Grinage explained metaphorically. “I don’t want to come here and change everything; I want to better what needs to be bettered.”

It’s been four years since he’s worked in a high school, and Beaver Area is considerably smaller than other schools he’s been in. He also mentioned our school was different demographically, and it has a different atmosphere, but he appreciates how inviting everyone has been toward him.

In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his two daughters. He also keeps fish tanks, his largest being 150 gallons!

“I just want to thank everyone for the opportunity to be here and the opportunity to be who I am. I appreciate everyone being very accepting of me and look forward to getting to know the students,” Mr. Grinage added.