Fred Best, the Principal of Mariner Middle School may not have always known that he would land in his current role, but he certainly was born to be a leader at Cape.
Fred, a 1993 graduate of Cape Henlopen High School spent his youth surrounded by all things Cape. His father was a longtime employee of CHSD accepting many roles during his tenure with the District. Young Fred played lacrosse for Cape and loved his academic experience at the school crediting his father as his most positive role model and mentor.
As a young man, Fred thought he would pursue the family business and help run Best Ace Hardware and Best Equipment. However as time progressed, he realized his love of sports and coaching overpowered his other goals.
When he spoke to his father, the senior Best mentioned the best way to make a living and include coaching in future plans was to pursue the educational field.
That is exactly what Fred did. He attended Salisbury University and obtained a Master’s Degree in Science with a focus in Education.
Immediately following college, Fred landed his first job in the Milford School District where ironically his dad was the principal. It was also here that he met his future wife Nicole.
While in Milford, Fred launched the lacrosse program at the high school and coached soccer and middle school basketball.
After 7 years at Milford School District, Fred landed at Mariner Middle School as a 6th grade science teacher. Here, he realized he was destined to follow in his father’s footsteps and he quickly accepted the position as Assistant Principal.
After 6 years as the assistant, he assumed the Principal role four years ago.
During this time, he continued coaching as Nicole and he were rearing a growing family.
Fred and Nicole have four children all of whom attend Cape Schools. His twin sons attend Mariner, while his youngest daughter attends Shields and his oldest daughter is a sophomore at the high school.
The entire Best family loves sports and Fred continues to coach for Atlantic La Crosse and is the volunteer coach at Mariner for both lacrosse and basketball. In fact, it was Fred who initiated the middle school lacrosse program in the Cape School District.
Fred’s children similarly love sports and are engaged in basketball, soccer, field hockey, lacrosse and running. This keeps the Best family constantly busy but Fred would not have it any other way.
Fred’s success as an administrator, a coach and a parent certainly makes all of us as a community “Cape Proud”.
Please visit our Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation (CHEF) website at www.chef-cape.org to learn more about CHEF’s educational partnership with the Cape school district. We invite the entire community to help us achieve our mission of preparing students for a healthy, productive life in a diverse global community.
-
The Cape Henlopen Educational Foundation’s (CHEF) principal objectives are to inspire learning and to prepare all students for a healthy, productive life in a diverse and global society. To help accomplish these goals, we seek to engage the entire community--educators, parents, business, civic and legislative leaders.
It is with these thoughts in mind that “Cape Rocks” highlights some of Cape’s brightest and best. The amazing stories and individuals reflected here are an integral part of our community. They make the Cape Henlopen School District and the surrounding area a truly amazing place to live.
