Principal Laura Tobias can’t be everywhere all the time at State College Area High School, one of the largest public schools in Pennsylvania. State High, as it is known, is walking distance from Penn State and has over 2,300 students. So Tobias came up with an unusual plan. She procured a doppelgänger of sorts: a cardboard cutout of herself.
The cutout isn’t, of course, a substitute for Tobias; it gets passed around the school in good fun. “It’s like Where’s Waldo?, but Where’s Mrs. Tobias?,” she joked. But students have assigned real value to the cutout, regularly taking photos with it, and Tobias wants it to be a reminder that even at a big school, the principal isn’t a scary administrator you only interact with if you’re in trouble. “This is a people business,” Tobias said. “Students and staff need to see and feel your presence and that you’re accessible.”