Bill Urias

Every day, students who enter PHS through the Tower entrance are greeted by Bill Urias and asked for their IDs. However, this quick interaction does not reveal much about his interesting life before PHS or his adventurous hobbies outside of his work. After finishing high school in South Jersey, Urias joined the military for four years before going to college. He attended both Rutgers University and The College of New Jersey, where he studied accounting. He then traveled to California in hopes of pursuing a master’s degree in business.

While in California, Urias instead worked for a private company where he cut trees due to his passion for adventure and nature. However, after eight years of living in California, his wife’s parents fell ill and the couple decided to move back to New Jersey. Although Urias formerly studied accounting, he decided to become a foreman for the Township of Princeton.

“I had a crew of 45 men and women, and every morning we would make the assignments on what we were going to do. We had crews that took care of the trees, took care of the signs around the town, maintained the parks, [and] cut the grass,” said Urias.

Not long after retiring from his position as a foreman, Urias was recruited to become a part-time security guard and building monitor at PHS. He has been working at PHS for the past five years. His job includes checking student IDs when they enter the building, pointing visitors in the right direction, and filling in for other missing staff.

His passion for the outdoors not only influenced his career choices but also how he spends his time outside of work. One of his favorite pastimes is riding motorcycles.

“I have three motorcycles. We do tours [and] take people up to Lake George and Lake Placid. I don’t bring [the motorcycles] to work,” said Urias.

Tracy Hart

Keeping students fed is an integral yet complex process at PHS. As one of several cafeteria workers who make sure this process runs successfully, Tracy Hart ensures that all students are well-fed and ready to learn.

Growing up in Hopewell, Hart has been working with Pomptonian Food Service, PHS’s new food service provider, for three years. She has worked all over New Jersey in multiple school districts with Pomptonian, but started at PHS this July.

“I know that the community is interested in farmto-tray and locally sourced things like that. My father’s also a farmer in the Hopewell area. I was really excited when we [started at PHS] because I can incorporate a lot of things that are locally grown that I’m familiar with from this area into the menu,” said Hart.

Prior to Pomptonian, Hart worked for several other food service providers, but she enjoys working with Pomptonian as the company focuses on delivering services exclusively in schools, whether K-12 or community colleges.

“I went to Rutgers, and I have a degree in nutritional science, and I was hired by Sodexo, a food service company, right from class. I was with them for 20 years. I also did country clubs involved in food service, and started as Grimace at McDonald’s and got involved in food service, then I went to Strayer [University] for my Master’s [in] Business Administration,” said Hart.

Outside of work, Hart enjoys taking her four kids tent camping, going to Hershey Park, and tending to her backyard chicken. She is also helping her father as he opens a brewery in Pennington.

Nick Cream

Armed with a ten-year tenure as a police officer, Nick Cream now uses the security skills he gained in his role as PPS’s attendance officer and PHS’s security officer. With this year marking his 34th in the district, some of Cream’s responsibilities include maintaining building security, monitoring the cafeteria during lunch, breaking up physical confrontations between students, conducting wellness checks for chronically absent students, and conducting residency checks.

“If [PPS] suspects that somebody may be living outside of Princeton, but attending the schools illegally, I investigate those maps,” said Cream. “And if a kid’s missing a lot of school, sometimes … I’ll make a home visit.”

Cream’s interest in pursuing a career relating to public security stretches back to college. After he graduated from Lawrence High School in Lawrence Township, Cream studied criminal justice at The College of New Jersey. Following his college graduation, he trained to become a police officer and ultimately joined the Trenton Police Department.

“I left the police force after I had a couple back surgeries. I’ve been with this school ever since,” said Cream.

Cream’s role in the district started as a part-time job as an attendance officer conducting occasional residency checks. As the demand for security in schools increased, Cream’s position evolved into the full-time job he currently holds, where he serves as a security officer for PHS on top of his attendance officer duties.

“I’m fortunate that the students are great here, which makes my job a lot easier,” said Cream.

Outside of keeping PHS’s security in shape, Cream likes bike riding and exercising. As big fans of the shore, Cream and his wife also enjoy visiting their beach house in Brigantine. Cream enjoys visiting his grandchildren in Florida and Pennsylvania as well.