Clark Conover has been working at Granada for over two decades. While a majority of students may just know him as their new principal, he has had many roles at Granada including vice-principal, wrestling coach, and teacher. It’s time to learn a little more about our new principal.

When Mr. Conover became a teacher, he knew it would be at Granada. While spending time in New Haven and at Cal Poly, he would quickly settle here and take on a multitude of roles. While he would initially be hired as a math teacher, Conover would go on to do much more, including teaching health and P.E. as well as coaching the wrestling team. When it came to moving up, the decision came naturally, “…the opportunity came about to be an athletic director and they needed somebody, so I became the athletic director. Did that for a long time, and the next step, logically, was administration…” stated Conover.

Since he was a kid, Conover knew he wanted to be a teacher, although he, “…wanted to, to be honest, stay a student forever.” Mr. Conover had a lot of influences that led him to become a teacher. Most notably, his high school wrestling coach Steve Page helped guide him into a career in teaching. His mom was also a teacher for over 44 years. While he was a teacher for a long time, many current Granada students still might remember him as their vice principal. Speaking on why he decided to become principal, Conover said, “…I was happy doing what I was doing last year as a vice principal, but when Mr. Hart went to the district office [and] an opening appeared, and I was asked about it, and I thought, well, I have a lot of people supporting me, so I just kind of went for it.”

What Mr. Conover loves most about his job are the connections he’s made with students and teachers. He loves getting to know the students of Granada and helping them do their best. Although, his least favorite part would be, “…a lot of E-Mails…” There’s nothing else Mr. Conover could imagine himself doing; if he wasn’t the principal he would hop right back into coaching or teaching again.

When he’s not working on bettering Granada, Mr. Conover loves to work out, read, listen to music, and hang out with his family. Mr. Conover is a fan of many sports, including wrestling, grappling, and jiu-jitsu. If you’ve been sensing a pattern, Mr. Conover has always had an interest in wrestling, recalling, “I had two older brothers that wrestled, and when I was in middle school at East Avenue here in town they had this huge wrestling unit. The coach told me to go to practice one day, and I listened to him.” He also loves to read, finding himself immersed in spy novels by authors such as Daniel Silva and Brad Thor.

When it comes to local community, Conover thinks of many things he has come to love about Livermore. There are many things he would suggest to visitors, such as eating at John’s Burger or checking out the rodeo, but what he loves most about Livermore is that it’s a big town with a lot of people that is still able to feel like a small town.

Thinking on his 24 years at Granada, Mr. Conover is most proud of the connections he has made with current and former students.

“I like the fact that former students, wrestlers, non-wrestler students, they’ve gone off and they’ve graduated from Granada. Some [have] gone to college, some have gone to the military, some have gone to work, but they are productive [in] society, and when I see them out in downtown Livermore, or Walmart, or Target, or the grocery store, they come up and say hi.”

His plans as the new principal are focused on making Granada feel like a community and encouraging kids from all different clubs, sports, and backgrounds to get involved in their school.

Clark Conover has been helping Granada for the last 24 years and he is sure to be amazing as our new principal. He just wants all students to feel comfortable and have fun at school, and there’s one thing he’d like every student to know: “I’m a kind individual and I’m here to support you however I can.”