Royce Boyd spent one year training to be an accountant. She says it was one year too many. "I thought I wanted to be in business and went to Penn State for an accounting degree," she says. "I came home and told my parents that I wasn't going back - it just wasn't for me." She transferred instead to the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown for education. "It's what I should have done in the first place," she says. "I was just too much of a people-person to spend my days behind a desk working with numbers." She completed her degree at UPJ and taught eighth grade while earning a Masters Degree in Educational Administration.

Her credentials help land positions in the Chestnut Ridge School Districts - first as assistant and then as principal of the high school. She accepted her current post as Claysburg-Kimmel Elementary principal in 1998. She says she most enjoys her interaction with kids. "It's great working with the kids, seeing a light bulb come on as they figure things out." As an administrator, she's able to effect even more lives than she did as a classroom teacher. She also likes the problem-solving aspect of her job. "It's definitely hectic, but I like the challenge."

Royce thinks that students are facing more challenges of their own than when she was a girl. "The world is a different place, and children are much less innocent, much less protected. They come to school with a lot more baggage - they've seen and heard things and experienced things that makes them grow up too fast." She says she does recommend education as a career to her students. "You're always learning and growing right along with the students. The kids are so inspiring that they make the job fun." Royce also recommends the area to her colleagues elsewhere in the state. "I love this area. It's still a small town atmosphere where you know and care about your neighbors, but we're close enough to metropolitan areas that if we want to have a taste of the city we can easily make the trip and then come home. It's truly the best of both worlds."

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