Plant City High School will have a new but familiar face leading their athletics department this coming fall as assistant principal Randy Humphrey transitions from his role as Assistant Principal for Student Affairs to Assistant Principal for Administration, overseeing what he describes as “operations and athletics.”
“He’s a Plant City person so he already has a connection with our kids and with our families and with our community so I know he’ll do a great job,” principal Susan Sullivan said. “He’ll hit the ground running working with our student athletes and with our coaches and our facilities, the other big thing that he covers.”
After graduating from Plant City High School in 1985, Humphrey then attended the University of Florida where he earned an undergraduate degree in Food and Resource Economics in 1989. After a brief stint in Jacksonville, Humphrey joined the Army where he would serve as an Aviation Warrant Officer for nearly 10 years.
Upon leaving the Army, Humphrey worked for more than four years as a commercial pilot, living just outside of Atlanta, Georgia, while attending Luther Rice University to earn his MA in Biblical Studies. That journey eventually led him back to Plant City where he started HopeWeaver Community Church in 2006, now One Accord Church, where he still serves as the Senior Pastor.
Once back in Plant City, Humphrey began his academic career as a substitute teacher at Tomlin Middle School in the fall of 2006, the same school where his mother taught for 22 years. And by 2007, he was offered a full-time role as a science teacher.
Humphrey then earned another graduate degree, a masters degree in education leadership from the University of West Florida, and returned to his alma mater in an administration role in 2020 after previously working with Sullivan at Tomlin.
“Being a teacher, they are the front line and they do amazing stuff,” Humphrey said. “But to be able to be an administrator for the students and then to be able step into a role where people say, ‘you’re not really dealing with the students day-to-day,’ but you’re dealing with the entire process. I was an operations officer in the military and to kind of see the whole picture, to bring it all together, there are numerous challenges there. And I appreciate and I am energized by challenges so I’m looking forward to [all of those challenges].”
Not only is Humphrey excited to take on the challenges that come with leading and working with students and those “front line workers” across all facets of PCHS’s operations, from the custodial staff to the lunch room staff to the instructors, he also relishes the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on the Raiders’ athletic department.
“I love sports of all kinds, my brother is even an assistant baseball coach here at Plant City High School,” Humphrey said. “I go to games, I even announce some of the games for the baseball team, so to be able to do that as another aspect or function of my job? Just think about it, you’re required to go to games. How good of a job is it that you’re required to go to games? So that part of it really excited me, the athletics part of it, but knowing that you get to lead those and help out in any positive way is just a great opportunity for me. So I couldn’t be in a better job at a better place.”