Inside Principal Scott Ruehl's office at Mt. Hebron High School are the old and the new.

Prominently displayed on the wall is a framed painting of the original school building, which, in 1965, was surrounded by open fields and a smattering of trees.

Leaning against a nearby file cabinet is a posterboard blueprint of what is to come: a $57 million expansion and renovation.

Ruehl represents a bit of the old and new himself.

Although he's the school's newly named principal, he's no stranger to Mt. Hebron. After graduating from the school in 1987, he taught math there for 10 years and served as an assistant principal for four.

When Ruehl, 39, reflects on his high school experience at Mt. Hebron, he talks about the home one mile away where he grew up and where his parents still live, graduating in a ceremony on the football field, serving on the National Honor Society and playing trombone in the marching band.

His marching unit helped celebrate the Orioles' 1983 World Series win in a packed parade in downtown Baltimore, he added, with special permission to miss class to do so.

"Physically, it's bigger and it's more students, but it still feels like the same Mt. Hebron I went to," said Ruehl, who lives in Eldersburg, in Carroll County, with his wife, Debbie; and their children, Joshua, 8, and Caroline, 6. "I know a lot of the people, I know the community, and I know that history and the traditions -- that helps."

Ruehl most recently served as the county's coordinator of secondary mathematics. At Mt. Hebron, he replaces David Brown, who will serve as principal of Glenwood Middle School.

In his new role at Mt. Hebron, Ruehl will be in the rare situation of overseeing some of his former teachers as well as some of his former students who have since joined the school's staff.

His high school calculus and trigonometry teacher, Frank Aiello, was one of his inspirations to become a teacher, he said.

"He made learning fun," Ruehl said of Aiello, who still teaches at the school. "He got to know me as an individual and showed he cared about me as a person. He still does that to this day."

Dealing with construction

Chief among Ruehl's goals at Mt. Hebron are ensuring high-quality instruction and forging positive relationships with students, he said.

His largest challenge likely will be the disruption caused by the renovation, which has already begun and will last several years.

"Basically, I've got to bring all the people together so this has the least impact on the students," Ruehl said.

Ruehl said he plans to make the best of the construction by enrolling students in photo and video classes to document the process.

"When it's all said and done, we can have a kickoff where people can go into the auditorium and watch a student production about the renovation," he said.

Ellicott City resident Larry Walker, whose sons graduated from Mt. Hebron in 2004 and 2008, said he and his older son interacted with Ruehl when Ruehl was a math teacher and assistant principal.

He described Ruehl as having a "tremendous personality" and "comfortable interactions with students."

Walker, who is involved in Mt. Hebron's Parents of African-American Students organization, said his group has a meeting with Ruehl planned to discuss suspension rates.

"I've always had a warm spot for Scott," Walker said. "He was always genuinely concerned about how my son was doing, even years later."

Tony Culler, whose daughter is a sophomore at Mt. Hebron, said he was pleased that a Hebron alumnus would be leading the school.

"It's really a good thing," Culler said. "The phrase, 'It's in your blood' comes to mind."

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