ROBERTSDALE, Ala. -- After a busy summer and with less than a week away from the beginning of the school year, Joseph Roh is excited about his first year as principal at RHS.

The school will host a freshman orientation beginning at 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 14 in the gym at RHS where students and parents will have the chance to interact with faculty members to get an idea of what’s expected of them, Roh said. The first day of classes for all students in Baldwin County is Monday, Aug. 18.

But for Roh his year began the minute he stepped on the RHS campus at the beginning of June.

“My summer was certainly not a slow one,” Roh said.

Before last Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting, Roh had already overseen the hiring of 17 new faculty members, including hiring for several new positions. The Board confirmed five additional new hires at its meeting on Thursday, Aug. 7.

“We’ve been cutting back for so long, so it’s nice that we’re actually able to hire new positions for our school this year,” Roh said.

Among the new positions is the hiring of a new agriculture teacher, Julia Bryant, who has overseen the start of three new programs at RHS.

In the fall, the school will be offering residential landscaping, sports turf management and greenhouse management.

“As part of the sports turf management program, students will be maintaining our sports fields, so we’re excited about that,” Roh said.

The greenhouse management program will include a hydroponics area, Roh said, which will be working in partnership with the South Baldwin Center for Technology’s new culinary program.

“Students at RHS will be growing food on campus which will be used by students in the culinary class at the South Baldwin Center for Technology,” he said. “It’s going to be a great partnership between our two schools.”

Robertsdale is also in the process of building a new 8,000-square-foot indoor batting facility that will include five new batting cages, laundry and restroom facilities.

“The facility will be used by both the baseball and softball teams at RHS and we’re really looking forward to getting that in place,” Roh said.

The school has also hired several new coaches for the school’s football program and a new band director, Dayna Brannan, as well as a county-supported social worker and has added teachers in the school’s math and science programs.

“It’s definitely been a busy summer,” Roh said.

Roh’s hiring as principal at RHS is a homecoming of sorts, teaching biology for a year at Robertsdale High School befo0re going to Daphne High in 2007, where he served as International Baccalaureate coordinator.

A graduate of Auburn University with a B.S. in marine biology and a Master’s degree in secondary education science, Roh spent 10 years at Campbell High School in Smyrna, Ga., where he taught a wide variety of science courses, including IB biology, AP biology, ESOL biology, chemistry and ecology. He also coached football, soccer and volleyball.

During his tenure at DHS he earned his administrative degree from the University of South Alabama and took on the duties as assistant principal in 2009, along with the duties of IB coordinator.

He was appointed to fill the position at RHS following the resignation of Dr. Craig Ross, who served as RHS principal since October of 2011.

He and his wife Shannon have four children, Susan, Joey, Mary Elizabeth and Jimmy.

Roh said his No. 1 priority is to get everyone involved in the education of students at RHS, from faculty to parents and members of the three communities of Robertsdale, Loxley and Silverhill.

“I think it’s important that we have excitement within the communities and that we work together toward making the students the best they can be,” Roh said. “I want everyone to be a part of what we’re doing here at RHS. If we can get the communities excited about education, everything else will fall into place.”

Roh said his philosophy is to get the best out of each and every student by expecting their best every day.

“Students are going to achieve what you expect out of them and our expectations are high,” he said. “We have a great student-body, great teachers and great communities. There is a lot of potential here and it’s important that the students, faculty and the communities know that we expect the best from them and I think that’s what we’re going to get.”