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in education. He began his 
career as a social studies 
teacher and director of hu­
manities in the Springfield 
district. He then worked 
as a supervisor and later 
a high school principal at 
the Mountain Lakes dis­
trict for 16 years.  
He started at Colum­
bia in 2020, the year the 
COVID-19 
pandemic 
reshaped education to fit 
the confines of a comput­
er screen. Since then, he 
has been charged with leading the 
student body back in through the 
school doors toward a high-quality, 
in-person education. 
He describes with evident pride 
some of the new programs that have 
resulted from those efforts. Colum­
bia seniors can, among other things, 
find internships for real work experi­
ence through Career Capstone and 
get a jump on vocational credentials 
through a new Manufacturing Engi­
neering program.
 “I think when I first got here, we 
were just focused on high school aca­
demics,” Sanchez says. “Now I think 
you’ll see some of the things that I’ve 
seen that we’ve really pushed for.” 
These offerings are accompanied 
by much-needed improvements to 
the school building itself. Columbia 
is a building that will celebrate its 
centennial this coming year. Ceiling 
tiles fall to the ground with alarming 
frequency, wires and outlets work at 
their leisure and any given sink is ei­
ther broken, clogged or clotted with 
tissue paper. 
“We have completed the major 
parts of the renovation,” he says. 
“Millions of dollars were invested in 
a new roof, which is really important 
so we don’t have leaks and we have 
safe working conditions.
“In addition, what’s really great 
for students was all the HVAC work 
that was done. In nearly all of the 
classrooms, we have… um… it looks 
like a pretty large phone booth. 
These machines provide heating and 
cooling, as well as air purification. 
So, again, great learning conditions 
for our students.”
As a student, I view these issues 
as only part of a larger problem. 
Ongoing issues with student drug 
and alcohol use have fueled a men­
tal health epidemic. It’s resulted in 
suicides, 
suicide 
attempts and re­
ceived national me­
dia attention.
“Next year, we’ll 
have vaping detec­
tors in the boys and 
girls 
bathrooms. 
We hope that will 
help and curtail a 
scourge that is on 
a national level, an 
uptick in students 
self-medicating and 
smoking.”	
As to the mental health crisis? 
“Next year, we’re going to have a 
new partnership with an organiza­
tion called Mental Health 101, and 
that will be a curriculum that will be 
embedded into health classes that 
will help students actually work with 
other students, not to counsel them, 
but to support them when they go 
through a crisis.”
Those efforts alone are enough 
Columbia High School is undergoing much-needed im­
provements to the building. Photo by Nathaniel Kraemer.
Ramps in front of Columbia High School's entrance 
are the norm this summer as upgrades to the build­
ing are made. Photo by Nathaniel Kraemer.
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