David Hong returns to DB to replace Terry as Assistant Principal

Emily Kim, Sports Editor

Along with the addition of a  new principal, Diamond Bar High School will be welcoming an old face to the Brahma staff, David Hong, while saying goodbye to assistant principal John Terry, who has taken a job in the Lynwood Unified School District.

On July 14, Terry was hired as the new principal of Lynwood Middle School and  assumed his position on July 27. Previous STEM teacher and Instructional Dean Hong will replace Terry  as assistant principal after serving as the associate principal at Monrovia High School for about a year. Hong left DBHS in December 2015 after 25 years at the school, 14 as a dean.

Terry joined the Brahma staff toward the end of 2010. He was not only involved with supervising school programs such as Pathways and the Special Education class, but was also in charge of security, guidance learning counselors, and recently helped found  the Wellness Center.

“Ultimately, the staff was so great when I came to visit that I fell in love with the place. I knew it was going to be different from what I experienced in my old district, but well worth the change,” Terry said via email.

According to Terry, he started to think like a principal at his previous school, Maywood Academy High School, in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He knew then that it was time to take the next step.

Terry said he not only will miss the staff members that had come together to help students, but also the variety of campus rallies, sports and performing arts events, as well as the level of participation parents have on campus.

“Since Diamond Bar is such a special place, I have mixed feelings,” Terry said. “I am excited about the new challenges and highlights that I will experience in my new district, but I’ll miss the people I have built relationships with over the past five and a half years. But change is inevitable and I welcome it with open arms.”