In loving memory of Rodney Shaw

2019-2025

Our lovely principal Rodney Shaw left into the loving arms of retirement on December 31, 2025. He became principal of Bingham High School on September 16, 2019. He is survived at Bingham High School by his assistant principals Art Erikson, Vaega Toilolo, Sally Wilde, Rufine Einzinger and Laura Visaggio.

In an interview, Shaw said he has his exciting and adventurous retirement planned out ahead of time; “Right now I don’t really have a lot of plans. Just gonna enjoy some time off and evaluate where it’s at… For right now it’s just mostly getting some stuff done around the house and spending some time with my mom and just enjoying some stress-free life for a while.” However, he says his retirement might not last forever. With Alpine school district splitting into three different districts, there will be plenty of new job opportunities that Shaw might pursue. 

Shaw says one of his favorite moments of his principal career was at his retirement party, when his ninety-year-old vice principal from his days at Bingham High School attended his retirement party. “[He] got in a little trouble” in his teenage years, so he and his vice principal did not always get along. But having his vice principal support him at his retirement party, the man who “straightened [him] out,” really meant a lot.

Principal Shaw has brought a lot of positive changes to multiple schools in his years as a principal, like creating the miner medallion and student of the month for Bingham, overseeing the remodeling of the school in 2019, and introducing a credit recovery class to Crescent View Middle School that was later recognized at the Model Schools Conference nationally. 

When Shaw was a student at Bingham, there was only one other high school on this side of the valley. Students did not have all of the stuff that we do outside of school. “This was our life, and we were connected to Bingham… because this is all we had and all we wanted to do.” His advice to students is “make these three years memorable.” Don’t regret not getting involved in school activities. Make your academic success a priority.

For the next principal, Shaw said you need to be fully involved in the job. Put the students first and do what is good for them. Keep the Bingham traditions, and keep the Bingham way.

“We’re here for kids, they’re not here for us.”

-Rodney Shaw, 2025