Don’t let Pam Wilbanks fool you. She stands in at 5-foot-1, but is quick to warn that dynamite can come in small packages if the need arises.

Wilbanks, 49, has filled Mack Douglas’ position as principal at Warren Central High School and hasn’t skipped a beat since her transition in June from principal at Warren Junior High.

In addition to following Douglas, principal for 11 years, she’s the first woman to serve as head principal at a local public high school in many, many years. That has not been an issue, either.

“We jumped right into summer school. I started on a Monday, and summer school started on Wednesday,” she said.

And it hasn’t stopped. When summer school ends July 18, Wilbanks will have only three weeks to get ready to greet students on the first day of school Aug. 8.

“I’m ready, and I’m very excited. It’s a great honor to be here,” she said.

A Philadelphia native, Wilbanks moved to Vicksburg 28 years ago and worked as a teacher at All Saints’ Episcopal School while her husband, Rayford, went to work for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

She moved to Warren Junior High four years later, where she taught English for 16 years before being promoted to assistant principal there in 1998. In 2002, she was named head principal.

In addition to being a secondary school principal for the first time, Wilbanks will be dealing with record enrollment numbers at the high school, which, with Vicksburg High, is one of two in the 9,000-student Vicksburg Warren School District.

On the first day of school last year, 1,008 students were reported at Warren Central. The school already has an enrollment of 1,187 for this coming school year, Wilbanks said.

But a benefit for Wilbanks is that she knows many of the students from her years at Warren Junior.

“I know the children, and I know their parents. They do change. They grow up and mature, but they’re familiar with me, too,” she said.

Wilbanks said she was interested in her new position because it will be a challenge.

“You never get too old to learn, and I think this will be a learning experience,” she said.

Her main focus will be test scores, she said.

“We have to keep them up and increase them more,” she said. “We’re reorganizing the curriculum this year to meet that need and working on the schedule to meet the needs of the students.”

Wilbanks said Douglas’ shoes will be hard to fill, but for that she’s grateful.

“It’s better when the person who held the position before you did a good job. He was very helpful to me,” she said. “This school has such a strong tradition and a great faculty, too.”

Wilbanks is ready and looking forward to taking charge at the high school.

“I’m short, but it’s never been a problem,” she said. “I’m stubborn, but for some reason that seems to work well in the schools. We’ll see.”