Montgomery County Public Schools Irina LaGrange is the new principal at Tilden Middle School in North Bethesda.

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Irina LaGrange, 36, is the new principal of Tilden Middle School in Rockville.

“I absolutely love middle school,” La Grange said. “I absolutely love the opportunity to change the lives of the kids. In middle school they listen, you get to guide them and help them find their passions.”

She also said she has an affinity for middle school students because she moved from her native Zagreb [the capital of the Republic of Croatia] when she was 10 and “in middle school it was frightening, the language and the culture.”

She said she admires the teachers she had then who pushed her and supported her but did not pity her.

At Tilden, a school of about 720 students, there are students from all around the world. She welcomes the challenge of helping them.

“A lot of doors are open [to them] and the others [they] can push open,” she said.

LaGrange started her teaching career in New York City public schools, working for Teach for America. She said it was there she knew teaching would be her career.

She sees her biggest challenge as continuing a culture of excellence at Tilden.

“To continue to nourish the whole child academically and emotionally, helping them develop confidence,” she said.

Her advice to her incoming students is to stay focused, work hard, ask lots of questions and “always find time to do things that they like doing.”

“I wish them happiness,” she said. “That they are able to fulfill their dreams, hold on to them and persevere.”

pmcewan@gazette.net