Even though some may consider him the “new” guy on campus, Dana Cruce is definitely no stranger to LCM High School. He has been working in the counselor’s office since January, but is only a temporary fill-in since the retirement of counselor Jackie Bradley.
“I retired from here ten years ago and then Mrs. Bradley took this office,” Cruce said. “She recently retired so they just asked me to fill in until June. I’ll be gone after this year and retiring again.”
A big part of leaving and returning later on is realizing that things change. For Cruce, the changes are definitely not with the atmosphere, but with the people.
“The teachers have obviously changed in the ten years that I’ve been gone,” he said. “Many of those that I worked with retired or have moved to other jobs, but there are a few still here. I miss some of the folks that I worked with earlier but they’ve gone on to do better things and enjoy their retirement. The computer system is completely different so I had to start all over learning that, but I’ve enjoyed it.”
Cruce has a Bachelor’s Degree in Choral Music and a Masters’ degree in Administration and Supervision.

“I got that first because I thought I wanted to be a principal, but I decided that principals deal with a lot of students who are misbehaving, parents who aren’t happy, teachers who sometimes don’t do what they’re supposed to do, and that didn’t sound like a fun job to me,” Cruce said. “So I went back and got a Masters’ in Guidance and Counseling.”
After getting his Bachelor’s, Cruce taught choir at West Orange-Stark High School for about 12 years before becoming a counselor. Upon realizing that he wanted to continue his career in education as a counselor, he went back to college for his Master’s.

“I’ve been in education for 40 years, some of that teaching in the classroom and the rest of the time a counselor at WO-S and LCM,” he said. “I think I like helping [students] plan a future. Even though they’re not sometimes sure what that future will be, I enjoy helping them.”