Upon coming back to school at the beginning of the semester, students may have noticed an unfamiliar British accent crackling over the intercom during the morning announcements.

This was the voice of the school’s new administrator, David Goldie.

Originally from the town of Plymouth in southern England, Goldie did not expect to wind up in Milton, Georgia.

Raised in a publicly owned house where a family of seven squeezed into three bedrooms, Goldie left school at the age of 16 to enter the workforce.

“When I was going out to work, it was like a big achievement for the family,” said Goldie. “There was never any thought of going to college.”

After a four-year apprenticeship in electrical engineering, Goldie began working for the English Ministry of Defense as an engineer. Working mainly on submarines, he spent several years tuning electrical systems, radar, sonar and weapons systems for the Royal Navy.

After a few years in this career, Goldie knew he wanted to move to a new challenge and became a telecommunications engineer with a British telecom company. However, this also proved unfulfilling after a few years, and he decided to make an unexpected career change into education.

“When I get to retirement age, I wanted to look back and say ‘I did something worthwhile’,” said Goldie.

After obtaining a degree from a nearby teaching college, Goldie began to work in elementary schools as a teacher before moving to the job of assistant principal.

But upon reaching the point where he could become a principal, he decided he could use more expertise before assuming the role.

The best way to get this expertise? Traveling the world.

Through a program called Visiting International Faculty, Goldie traveled worldwide to visit schools in other countries and teach their education systems. In Australia, for instance, he saw an opera at the Sydney Opera House, climbed Ayers Rock and went skydiving.

It was through this program that he found himself in Georgia.

Upon arriving to teach at Mimosa Elementary School in Roswell, he “only expected to be here for one or two years.”

However, a chance encounter threw a wrench into these plans. Goldie met his future wife, fellow teacher Nancy, at Mimosa Elementary, and they were married in 2007.

He has resided in the metro Atlanta area since then, and arrived at Cambridge after brief stints at the Fulton County Superintendent’s office, Cogburn Woods Elementary School and Hopewell Middle School.

“My preference was to work back in this community,” said Goldie of how he came to be at Cambridge. “When this position came up, I was quite fortunate.”

Now that he is here, Goldie’s focus is to help the senior class, which he oversees, and promote student safety.

“Goal number one is to keep everybody safe,” said Goldie.

As for this year’s graduating class, Goldie wants seniors to “graduate with choices and opportunities so they end up taking a pathway because they want to, not because they have to.”

Cambridge seniors are looking forward to working with him.

“His accent’s cool,” said senior Kayla Barbee with a laugh. “I like the way he says ‘car park’.”

Other Cambridge administrators have advice for the senior class, including to “enjoy being a kid” in the words of assistant administrator Tonekia Phairr.

“This is the last step of adolescence,” said Phairr.

Goldie shares similar sentiments, saying he likes to “work hard and play hard,” and wishes for seniors to do the same.

“If you’re going to be somewhere every day, you might as well enjoy it,” he said.

But above all, Goldie wants students to realize the value their high school education carries through life.

“Even though we didn’t have very much growing up, my parents kind of instilled a very strong ethic about education, that education is the way to achieve your goals and dreams,” said Goldie.

“I know the value of education. I know the value it’s had in my life,” he said.