Community leaders seized the opportunity to welcome Dr. Buddy Strickland as St. Aloysius High School’s newest principal at the Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event held Thursday night at the school.

Mayor George Flaggs, Jr. said he’s known Strickland for a long time, adding they were neighbors.

“He’s a great man,” he said. “He taught me in high school. I’ve known him for a long time.”

St. Al will do well under Strickland, as they always have done, Flaggs said.

“St. Al got a steal because one, he’s good, and two, he’s local,” he said. “I think that’s going to do well for the faculty, the students and the community because he already knows them.”

Strickland’s first year to teach was the first year Warren Central opened, 50 years ago, in 1965.

“I was an elementary principal at Halls Ferry and a secondary principal,” Strickland said. “For the last job I had in Vicksburg, I worked in the superintendent’s office. The last job they gave me, they called me to come up and we had a meeting with the Department of Justice, and we had a mandate to develop two magnet schools, so that became my job.”

Bowmar Avenue Elementary School is part of the Strickland’s legacy.

“We were here for 24 years, and then we were gone for 20,” he said. “We’ve been back about six years.”

Most recently, Strickland has been retired, but he has been filling in as a substitute teacher at St. Aloysius High School, so he is familiar with the way things work at the school.

“I think I know every single kid from the seventh grade to the 12th grade,” he said.

Strickland said the Business After Hours event was a great opportunity to connect and reconnect with members of the community.

“It’s interesting for me that I’m getting to connect with some people I had a lot to do with when I was here before,” he said. “It’s reconnecting with some and making some new connections with people I don’t know. That’s the exciting part.”

Chamber of Commerce executive director Jane Flowers said the events are great for building community.

“One of the things you need to build community is you have to know people,” she said. “So when we have these Business After Hours events, you really get to know people.”

Flowers also said she is looking forward to seeing the success Strickland will bring.

“Both he and his wife have served in education in this community for many years,” she said. “His grandchildren are here. He has a vested interest in this school and in the education his grandchildren receive.”

Flowers said she encourages other retirees to use their skills to enhance the community like Strickland if they are able.

“It provides a great example to the other retirees in the community,” she said. “They have lots of experience, skills, knowledge and wisdom that can help us grow and improve the quality of life.”