This article was originally published in the 2026 edition of The Hawk magazine. Check out the full edition at lswhawk.com/magazine or click here.
5:30 a.m. Alarm blaring. It’s just a little too early, so off to the phone. Scroll through some emails, realize they can wait and let TikTok steal the time away. 5:45 a.m. Probably a good time to finally get up and clean up. The next item to check off the list is taking care of Miss Magoo, making sure she eats her breakfast, uses the bathroom . . . all of the normal routine things.
(To clarify, Miss Magoo is the dog.)
And before walking out of the door, it’s time to post the song of the day on Facebook — the most essential step of them all. Make sure there are links to both Apple Music and Spotify. Then, it’s off to Lincoln Southwest High School, but not before making a stop on the way to Scooter’s Coffee to retrieve an extra large-size mocha latte.
As the doors open, the rush begins. Preparing the announcements, searches, questions and supervision, all in the span of a couple minutes. Then, it’s time to pick up the phone in the office, press a couple of buttons and broadcast the steady tones of the announcement bell. “Good morning, Silver Hawks. Here are some announcements to get you started today.” A club has a meeting. Congratulations to this team for winning last night. Make sure to fill out the form in the grade-level Google Classroom. Here’s a special guest. Jumpcode, jumpcode, jumpcode. “That’s all we have for today.” And then…
Silence. The only standstill of the day, for everybody. Stand or pause.
I pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.
“I get my daily dose of fear of public speaking out of the way. I communicate way more than I ever anticipated coming into this job.”
Mr. John Matzen has been the principal of Lincoln Southwest since 2021. As he enters his fifth year in this position, some tend to reflect on the job description – what does a principal even do? What does Matzen do?
“The job description is woefully incomplete,” Matzen said. “I often say that my job is to hire great people and to stay out of their way. We operate daily in a building where over 2,000 individuals have free choice and diverse motivations driving their actions. If you want students to succeed, then you have to be open to helping them with all the challenges of life, in addition to teaching them a subject.”
As the day proceeds, the work only gets more and more unpredictable. Matzen has to juggle a number of administrative duties – scheduling, planning, purchasing, the like – along with phone calls and emails, teacher observations, dealing with unorderly students, conducting vape searches and counseling, all while he has to complete a tasklist in his office, which he’s rarely sitting down throughout the day.
It’s a lot. But the clock keeps ticking, and Matzen always reminds himself and others of the two things that keep him going: trust and empowerment. When asked to describe the lessons he’s learned as principal, he said there were “too many to count.”
“There are some jobs where no amount of pre-training or education can really prepare you fully, so I have learned so much on the fly,” Matzen said. “That being said, I have continued to see that we are best when we hire someone based on disposition and kindness, as the technical skills can be taught easily. I listen, advise as needed, but largely I just help them have the confidence to do what they knew to do all along.”
LSW, in a way, is a second family to Matzen.
Whether it’s helping integrate new colleagues into the workplace to shuffling students throughout their tenure, he takes on each responsibility with pride and an open mind. But, to support also means to be supported, and Matzen’s support is not too far from home.
“My wife is a teacher of the deaf and hard of hearing, so she has a good understanding of the diverse challenges of education. She is instrumental in my success as a principal, because she does so much to keep our home running,” Matzen said. “Likewise, my children are both understanding of the time demands of the job and they’ll accompany me to event supervisions at times so we can spend more time together.”
Matzen’s mission is to meet people where they are and help them get to where they want to be. Students tend to look up at him (literally) and think it comes easily – the leadership, the kindness, the gusto. But that’s not always the case.
Whether it’s consoling a crying student in the office, assisting with the health office or making a difficult phone call home, nothing comes easy to the principal. What helps him and his colleagues along is making a set of goals every year, on top of his life mission to connect and ensure success with the people he sees every day.
“Our leadership team creates a school improvement plan each year that lays out big picture goals,” Matzen said. “Increasing graduation rate and ACT scores, decreasing student discipline incidents or demographic disparities as well as action steps to work toward those goals.”
Matzen isn’t just an administrator. He also experiences Southwest through the lens of his students. He may not be in a classroom for blocks at a time, but he’s attending sports games, theatre events and showing off his school spirit. And, of course, he has his highlights.
“Bright Star was really great, and I loved seeing the softball team win the state championship,” Matzen said. “I loved seeing a student graduate at semester who, a few years back, wasn’t sure if they’d graduate at all.”
Mr. John Matzen. He’s the principal, of course. But, he’s also a mentor. A colleague. A shoulder to lean on (even if that shoulder is six feet above the ground). A supporter of the arts. A husband. A father. Most of all: he’s human.
“To err is human, so it’s not about never making mistakes, but rather about owning your decisions,” Matzen said. “There are times when things don’t go well and I ultimately shoulder the blame for things that happen at our school. But, learning how to work with others and learning how to face adversity will help students for the rest of their life.”
And after five years at LSW, what is Matzen’s biggest piece of advice?
“Avoid dismissal traffic.”