PHS assistant principal Billings is home again

The Lady Panthers soccer match against Spalding High School at Herb St. John Stadium on Tuesday afternoon was well out of reach, but you couldn’t tell by how Perry High School Assistant Principal Arthur Billings was cheering the home team on. You would have thought Perry was up by 10 goals rather than down 10-0 and losing the game by the GHSA mercy rule. No matter the Perry team on the field or court, Billings is there, proud as can be to be a Perry Panther. He’s home again.

“Our kids are a representation of what this community stands for,” says Billings who’s in his first year as an administrator at Perry High School.

A member of the class of 1993, Billings is proud of his time at Perry High School, where he played basketball, football and ran the 800 meters for the track and field team. He’s home again, working at his alma mater trying to making a difference.

“It means I’m helping keep the tradition and morale alive and keeping the standards in place the way they were when I was in school here at Perry High,” says Billings who was at the game with his 13-year-old daughter, Chelsea. “It means the world to me to help our younger generation become better individuals.”

Married for 15 years to his high school sweetheart, Catina, also a Perry High School alum, Billings has worked his way up from being a Fort Valley State graduate to teaching at Westside Elementary School in Warner Robins for six year to Bert Rumble Middle School for another two years to where he is today. The journey through the educational system has prepared him for what he and principal Wesley Martin and the rest of the Perry High School administration deal with every day. On his time at the elementary and middle school level, Billings says, “I loved it. I was able to relate to the kids because they grew up how I grew up. The kids were no different than I was as a kid.” You can see what he means when you witness how students at Perry High came up to him at the soccer matches on Tuesday. It was more like a big brother greeting and supporting his little brothers and sisters. It was personal.

“It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish,” says Billings with a big smile when talking about his being in a leadership position at PHS. “It feels so natural being here, it just feels great to be home.”

Catina agrees, “I’m glad he’s there. I’m looking forward to my daughter to get there so she can experience what we experienced at Perry High School.”

Billings had been blessed enough to have taught and worked as an administrator in the schools Chelsea has attended. It looks like he will be doing the same again in a few years. Chelsea’s currently a seventh grader at a local middle school.

“I believe the pride in your school starts at elementary school through middle school on the way up to high school,” says Billings, “and it’s a sense of togetherness we have here at Perry that makes it great to be back. There are still teachers here that taught me when I went here.”

The tradition continues as Billings and Chelsea posed in front of the Perry panther statue at the gate of the football field. They stood there smiling for my camera — a former and current Perry Panther and future Perry Panther side by side. The past, present and future proud to be home again.

“I want to be part of a Panther tradition that will never fade,” says Billings.

HHJ News