This summer, Oceanside Collegiate Academy is welcoming a new principal, and if you ask Dr. Kelly Linkenhoker, the timing is perfect. After more than 30 years in public education, she’s packing up her life in Virginia and heading to the Lowcountry with her husband. She is ready for something new while bringing a lifetime of experience with her.
Dr. Linkenhoker didn’t begin her career with leadership in mind. She started in kindergarten and first grade classrooms and spent 25 years with the youngest learners. Dr. Linkenhoker still has the heart of a teacher. Even now, after serving as a principal and assistant superintendent, she talks about kids with the same energy. She loves how they grow and learn and how much they need people who truly see them.
Her path has been steady but full. She holds degrees from Virginia Tech and Radford universities, and most recently earned her doctorate from Vanderbilt University. But ask Dr. Linkenhoker about it, and she’s more likely to talk about the people she encountered along the way than list her accomplishments. One of those accomplishments is having Salem High School (where she served as principal) recognized as a distinguished school for the 2024-2025 academic year and ranked No. 2 in the Roanoke Valley by U.S. News & World Report. This is just one of the many accolades that fill her resume and mark a flourishing career in education. She feels the mentors, the students, the small moments, kept leading her forward to where she is today. When the opportunity at Oceanside Collegiate Academy became available, she said it just felt right. “Life kind of gives you little nudges,” she said. “This felt like one of them.”
Dr. Linkenhoker has already spent time meeting the staff at Oceanside, and that first impression stuck. Warm, welcoming, invested, is how she described it. And for Dr. Linkenhoker, that matters. She’s big on people and relationships and building something together instead of walking in with all the answers.
Her philosophy is simple, even if it’s not always easy: grow great humans. Yes, academics matter. Goals matter. But so does how you get there. Dr. Linkenhoker wants students to be challenged and supported. One day she would like them to look back and say they were pushed to be better and that they were cared for along the way. “Tough but fair,” she said with a smile. “And that they knew I loved them.”
The move also brings her closer to a new kind of community. With three grown children and a deep love for connection, Dr. Linkenhoker is already looking forward to putting down roots here, not just inside the school but beyond it. She talks about the future of Oceanside with a sense of excitement, but also intention.
There’s a vision, yes, but also a willingness to listen, learn and grow alongside the people already here. For Oceanside Collegiate Academy, this isn’t just a leadership change. It’s the start of something that feels thoughtful, grounded and full of heart.
By Cari Lawson
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