In 1985, Eva Helwing was named the first official school principal and served in that role until she retired in 2005. Helwing, born in 1938, was a Hungarian American who had experienced rule under Nazi Germany and began attending American schools at age 13. She was hired despite the fact that at that time she did not know Spanish because of her past experiences living in Nazi Germany as an ethnic minority and learning English as a second language in the U.S.; she knew English, German, and Hungarian. After being hired she learned Spanish and began conducting school business in that language. Helwing died on January 10, 2012 in Niles, Illinois.