For 15 years, Tammy Brunan has been a familiar face at West as a main office secretary. From helping people in the office for a variety of reasons to maintaining order around the school, Brunan has played a significant role in helping students throughout all her years here at West. However, Brunan’s time at the high school has come to an end and is allowed her to move up as the executive assistant to the superintendent.
“I’m the assistant to the superintendent, but I’m also the board recording secretary. I will be working closely with the school board members,” Brunan said.
Brunan applied and was offered the position. Her last day at West is on Jan. 17 and she will be starting her new position at the district office on Jan. 20.
“I honestly think that we probably have some of the best staff members in the whole entire district. That was probably the hardest decision for me, was having to leave the people that I work with because the people that I work with are amazing,” Brunan said.
Before moving to her current position in the main office, Brunan worked as the secretary in the Olympia office with Joe Esper and Andy Wares. She moved over to the main office at the same time Esper became the head principal.
“So, actually, before I was the principal, I was the assistant principal in the Olympia office, which is the job Principal Wares does now. I worked with Mrs. Brunan in the Olympia office for a couple of years. In 2014, I became the head principal, and then she came over to the main office at that time. So she’s been here in the main office for a good ten years, and I probably worked there for 12 or 13 [years],” Esper said.
The entire time Brunan has worked here, she has made many lasting impressions on staff members and students.
“She’s very sweet and she always [is] there… when you’re having a bad day and she always says good morning. She does anything you could need,” junior Elizabeth [Bizzie] Rice said.
Brunan has made connections with students simply by seeing them every day, but she has formed especially strong connections with many of the football players.
“I was very involved with the football program when Kyler [her son] played football here,” Brunan said.
Even though both of Brunan’s children have already graduated from West, she still volunteers with the football program. Now that she is leaving the school she still hopes to assist with the program, but is looking forward to passing the torch down to new football parents.
“I was a football mom, so I would be in charge of getting volunteers and setting up for dinners… and if we did fundraisers, I would help with fundraisers and set up before games,” Brunan said.
Besides the football program here, Brunan has left a lasting impression on West. Members and students have said that she has become a helpful, familiar figure for students to run to and a rock in our school.
“Mrs. Brunan is the person behind the scenes that kind of does everything. There’s really big-scale things like the beautiful graduation ceremony we do at Interlochen [that she is largely involved in]. She plans that every year, there’s tons of detail to that,” Esper said.
