NORFOLK, Neb. -- A northeast Nebraska principal received a significant honor this week.

Norfolk Middle School Principal Chuck Hughes received the Region 3 Outstanding Principal of the Year Award from the Nebraska State Association of Secondary School Principals on Monday.

NSASSP Region 3 principals selected Hughes for the award. There are 50 school districts represented in Region 3. There are five regions in the state of Nebraska. As the Region 3 award winner for Middle School Principal of the Year, Hughes will be eligible to earn the state award that will be announced later this year in December, which will be chosen by a committee selecting between the five Nebraska region winners of the award.

“Chuck Hughes is an amazing principal," Norfolk Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Jami Jo Thompson said. "He works extremely hard to ensure that students are provided with a positive learning experience and that the staff is supported in their work every day. He has a positive, problem-solving mindset and will do whatever it takes to ensure that students are successful. Students and staff are at the forefront of all of his decisions. He is an approachable, team-oriented individual that is admired by staff, students, parents, and colleagues. He is very deserving of this award.”

Hughes has been in education since 2002, and he has spent all of his years in Norfolk Public Schools. 

Hughes graduated from Midland Lutheran College in 2002. He earned a Masters in Curriculum
and Instruction from Doane College in 2009. He also earned a Master’s Degree from Doane College in 2015. He was a fifth and sixth-grade teacher at Lincoln Elementary in Norfolk for four years before moving to Norfolk Middle School. At Norfolk Middle School, Hughes taught mostly sixth-grade math and science, and he did teach in a seventh-grade classroom for a year. He became the Assistant Principal at the Middle School in 2015-2016 before moving to the Principal role in 2016 where he has been ever since.

Hughes was also named Outstanding New Principal in Region 3 in 2017-2018.