AUBURN — The School Committee voted unanimously Wednesday night to hire Scott Annear as principal of Edward Little High School, starting this fall.

Annear, 44, is an assistant principal at the school.

He will replace Jim Miller, who is retiring after 25 years as principal.

After the vote, Annear and Assistant Principal Todd Sampson shook hands with school board members.

Becoming principal is “huge,” Annear said.

“I grew up in this town,” he said. “I had a great experience as a student here. One of the things I want for students is to have an even better experience here. It means a great deal to be in a position to support kids.”

The high school has amazing students and staff, he said.

As principal, he hopes to raise the bar academically and bridge gaps for students who are struggling. He explained that for students already doing well academically, there’s no reason the staff can’t elevate them to perform even better.

When students graduate, they’ll have “a comprehensive education so that they are the most marketable,” he said. “When people see the Edward Little High School stamp on their transcript, they’ll know they had a tremendous, rock ’em, sock ’em education.”

Annear grew up in Auburn and graduated from Edward Little in 1989. After college, he began working at Edward Little as an educational technician and baseball coach.

He founded the special education learning lab to provide extra help to students and was promoted to special education coordinator. In 2014, he became assistant principal, along with Sarah DeLuca.

He was recommended for principal by a search committee made up of officials and teachers.

Last week, Annear was interviewed by a team of high school students selected by the search committee.

“They asked good questions,” Annear said.

He said he wants to become principal, in part, to have a greater impact on students and staff and to help students and staff grow.

Among his goals are to help people understand and connect how current initiatives of Mass Customized Learning, the proficiency-based diploma and professional development are all connected to promote student success.

Other goals are to see the school do more explaining to parents about how the education process works, and to provide more ways for parents to ask questions, get answers and be involved in their students’ education.

Within four years, Annear said he hopes to see every student have the opportunity to experience an internship in the community as part of their high school learning.

“Asking students ‘what do you want to do after high school?'” is a daunting question, he said.

More community learning can help students find out what careers they’re interested in and what careers they aren’t, he said. That way, when they graduate from high school, they will feel more comfortable about the direction in which they’re heading before laying out huge sums of money for postsecondary education.

Hiring an Edward Little graduate continues a tradition in Auburn, where many teachers and administrators are also Edward Little graduates. That includes Miller, who has worked for Auburn schools as a teacher or principal for 40 years. He graduated from Edward Little in 1970.