5th-Grader, Principal Trade Places for Day

Before making any rulings about how the school was going to be run now that she was in charge, 10-year-old Linh Tran first took a few minutes to rearrange the pens and paper on the principal’s desk to suit her.

As it turned out, that was just about the highlight of her daylong tenure as head of St. Elisabeth Catholic School, where on Wednesday she got to be principal for the day.

“My friends are more excited about this than I am,” Linh said that morning. “It’s kinda weird.”

Linh won the honor by being one of 14 students to sell at least $180 worth of magazines and gifts during the school’s annual magazine drive.

Her name was pulled from a hat and she was thus given the opportunity to make new rules for the day in preparation for her reign. She declared Wednesday a free-dress day, meaning that students did not have to wear uniforms. Linh also decreed extended recess and lunch times, and made sure there were videos and ice cream in each class.

Last but not least, she decreed that there would be no homework assigned for Wednesday night.

While Linh took over the principal’s office, Sister Barbara Schamber, the school’s real principal, spent the day as a fifth-grader in Linh’s classroom. She had to do whatever the other students did in teacher Jene Wright’s class.

“My teacher, Mrs. Wright, said we were going to have three tests today,” said Linh, smiling. “But I don’t know if she was joking.”

Actually, Wright planned to give the class a science test on Wednesday, and made the students, including Sister Barbara, identify types of rocks laid out around the classroom.

“It’s something that sounded like it would be fun,” said Sister Barbara, gamely. “Linh has done a wonderful job of preparing. And I have to give credit to the teachers. I can just imagine what it would be like to have the principal in their class.”

And Linh now knows what it’s like to be principal, away from the kids and behind an administrator’s desk. Asked if it was fun, Linh was quick with her answer.

“No, not really,” she said emphatically.

Linh was the school’s third and youngest student principal since the contest started three years ago.