With a house full of kids and a school full of kids, Tracy High’s principal Jason Noll has his hands full. Born in San Mateo, Noll has been living in Tracy for 25 years. Noll’s ties to Tracy run deep, as he graduated from Tracy High, and was assistant principal before becoming principal six years ago.

What is your favorite part of your job? “My favorite part of my job is being with my students and seeing their accomplishments—academic, sports, music, everything. All of our students are so multi-talented. People don’t often think about the contributions teenagers make, but if you look here, it’s amazing. It’s just amazing to see how they’ve grown from freshmen to senior year.”

What are some of your hobbies? “I like camping, hiking, wake boarding, anything outdoors.”

What is your ideal weekend? “Just being able to take my kids out and do something fun outside, whether it’s just play around and go to the park and hang out. Just spend time with my kids and my family.”

What motivates you to wake up each morning? “To me, being here isn’t really a job, so every day I’m excited to come to work–to see what the students are doing. Every day’s new, it’s different and challenge. It doesn’t seem like work.”

What do you love about Tracy High? “I love the students, the culture, the faculty (they really care about the students), just the perception and name that Tracy High holds in the town.”

What advice would you give current students of Tracy High? “I would say “work hard but enjoy your time here.” Enjoy being in high school. It’s a lot of fun and you’ll have a lot of fun memories of it as you go forward in life.”

What is a book that you think everyone should read? “7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I think it’s got a lot of great advice on how to look at what you’re doing and look at your life and set up your goals and how to meet and deal with people all the time. I think it did change my life to some extent. It gave me good insight on things to do.”

What is your proudest moment as principal? “Every year seeing what colleges the students get into, seeing the community service that students are involved in. I can’t say just one. There’s so many things that students do that bring a smile to my face.”

What is the most difficult part of your job? “I think the most difficult part is seeing the students make wrong choices that sometimes affect a lot of their life because of it, like getting kicked out of school. It’s a really hard and sad part for me to see that.”

What is your fondest childhood memory? “I think it’s just spending time with my family. We went camping a lot, so just being there with my brothers, sisters, and my parents. I look back on those camping trips as just a great time being with the family.”

Is there anything else you’d like us to know? “I have seven kids. I don’t know if anyone knew it. They’re pretty good kids, but there’s never a quiet moment at my house, that’s for sure.”