MOSCOW — Moscow Middle School Principal Bill Holman’s life is like a giant circle that led him to end up in the same place he started, and he couldn’t be more grateful.

The 63-year-old Holman first moved to Moscow in 1974 when he was a ninth grader attending what was then called Moscow Junior High. That’s where he first met his future wife.

It’s also where he found a community that inspired him.

“I came to Moscow and I felt like my world opened up a lot,” he said. “Moscow’s just got a really cool flavor and diversity that I just really appreciated.”

Holman’s earliest years were spent in Kooskia, but he considers himself a Moscow kid. He said the Moscow schools and the city provided him structure and opportunity that he needed at the time. Holman said that is what motivates him as an administrator.

“I’ve always felt like I had the opportunity to pay that forward a little bit to folks that grew up like I did,” Holman said.

Holman will retire at the end of June after working in education on the Palouse for 36 years. He will be replaced by Teri Summers, the Moscow Middle School assistant principal.

Holman said he wants to spend more time with his wife and step away from the “crazy” pace of administration that has led to many sleepless nights.

When he was younger, Holman was more interested in cars and architecture than educating. He went to the University of Idaho initially to study architecture before taking a job at an auto shop.

He is not totally sure what drew him to teaching, but he suspects it might have been a UI math professor who inspired him, as well as Holman’s grandfather and mother both being teachers.

“For whatever reason I got the bug about teaching,” he said.

After a short stint teaching at Troy High School, he taught math and physics at Moscow High School for 13 years. Holman became interested in administration and took an athletic director’s job at Moscow Junior High.

He was later hired to be assistant principal at Lincoln Middle School in Pullman for eight years. Then he served as principal in Pullman’s Franklin Elementary for six years.

In 2018, he returned to the place where he began and became Moscow Middle School’s principal.

Holman said he enjoys public education because it is a place that is supposed to treat every child “respectfully and with compassion and empathy.”

He said schools are where every child can get an education no matter their race, religion or background.

“It’s been very fulfilling to work in a business where that’s possible,” he said.

Providing that education became more challenging during the COVID-19 pandemic when children had to learn in isolated environments. Four years later, though, Holman said it feels like Moscow Middle School is coming out of that “pandemic tunnel.”

He said students’ test scores have increased and they are getting used to social interaction again.

“It just really feels like we’re making some good progress there,” he said.

As this school year winds down, Moscow Middle School is inviting the public to see for themselves what the students have been working on this year.

The annual Moscow Middle School Expo will be 5:30 to 7 p.m. today at the middle school. The event will feature student projects, videos, crafts and artwork.

Visitors can tour the school and enjoy a free barbecue meal organized by the administration and Parent Support Team. Holman, as usual, will be grilling hot dogs for hungry attendees.

As Holman looked back on his career, the principal said he would not change a move or step he made.

“I feel like I belong here and I feel welcomed here and I feel definitely supported here,” he said.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.