Dennis Williams ’97 is now in his 18th year as principal of Hatboro-Horsham High School, his own alma mater: “I tell people all the time, ‘I’m so comfortable in this office because I spent most of my time in here,’” he says. “I was a problem child, but there were people who embraced me and who made sure that I took care of business and reached my full potential. I always knew that I wanted to try and be that person for other kids.”
That was the aspiration he had coming into college — that, and continuing with athletics. He had played football and thrown discus in high school and he was able to continue both at Muhlenberg, joining the football team for his first two years and the track team his junior year. And he didn’t stop there: He was a member of the Black Students Association, a brother in Tau Kappa Epsilon, a tour guide and a mentor in local elementary and middle schools.
“One of the beauties of a liberal arts education is that you can kind of do everything,” says Williams, a history major on the education track who dedicated the final semester of his senior year to student-teaching. “And because of the sheer size of Muhlenberg, you can be the person who plays in a game on Saturday morning and [on Monday] the professor can say to you, ‘You had a good game the other day.’ … That doesn’t happen on big campuses.”
He tries to be that person for his own students, attending at least two games or competitions for every sport at his high school. He has remained heavily involved with Muhlenberg, serving on the Board of Trustees, continuing to see former teammates three or four times a year and staying in touch with College coaches so he can connect them with his students.
“Leadership and collaboration are absolutely things I learned at Muhlenberg that I still use daily … I have to be able to collaborate with teachers, parents and the community and demonstrate a certain type of leadership so that each and every kid gets what they need. That’s no different from what coaches, athletic directors and advisors did for me, everybody working in concert to make those things happen.”
—Dennis Williams ’97
“The camaraderie of a small school, the ability to be involved with so many different things, that’s what Muhlenberg created for me,” he says. “On larger campuses you can’t be that active; at a place like Muhlenberg, you can, and it’s encouraged. That’s what I felt was so great.”