By Matthew E. Milliken

mmilliken@heraldsun.com; 419-6684

DURHAM -- A former regional and national official with Teach for America has taken the reins at Maureen Joy Charter School.

"I'm excited about it," Alex Quigley said Wednesday of his new job. "This is what I've always wanted to do."

"We're very excited about having him come on board," said Bonnie Wright, a founding board member of the school. "He comes from a great background to build on the successes of the school that we've had so far."

Quigley, 32, took over as principal at the beginning of the month. A 1999 graduate of Colby College, he taught for four years at elementary schools in Mississippi as a member of the Teach for America program.

While working in Mississippi, Quigley earned a master's degree in education and a specialist degree in K-12 education leadership, both from the University of Mississippi. He supervised other Teach for America corps members in the state's Delta region for two years before becoming executive director of the corps' Eastern North Carolina region in mid-2005.

Quigley left that post, based