(L) 1994 (R) 2018
It is my intention to share some reflections on the highs, the lows, the excitement, the routine, the successes, the failures and everything in between which I experience the course of the next 10 – 12 months, my first months as a full-time principal of a high school. Writing this journal will help me grow. Reading it may make you laugh…
16 | August | 2018
Today is the first day that students are in classes at Mullen High School in Denver, Colorado and, in the lead up to this morning, I have had trouble containing myself. For the past 10 days, I have engaged in an Instagram countdown to today, sharing my excitement and feeling good about doing so.
As it turned out, some of our students who happened to see the posts referred to the enterprise as the “Saddest Countdown Ever.”
Perspective is so important, is it not?
Here is one thing I have quickly learned as a principal: you are only as good as the person who really runs the office and, in my case, I am blessed to work with someone who is compassionate, confident and beyond competent. She knows more about this place and how it functions than I and she is more than willing to share. She also anticipates needs I have never considered and she does everything she is asked. And more. I told her last week that she is some kind of Main Office Magician.
So lucky…
As we begin these first days of class, beyond being excited, I find myself most grateful. I am grateful to our faculty and staff, especially our new educators. I am grateful to those who work at Mullen who are not in classrooms. What they do to get the school ready for students is amazing. I am grateful to the parents who send their treasured children to us. They trust us to help their kids on their journeys and that is a tremendous responsibility and one that I want to keep in the forefront of my mind daily.
And I am grateful to the students of Mullen High School. Hey, it is all about you. YOU are why we do what we do here. We serve you to help you learn, to help you grow in your relationship with God and with others, to help along the road of becoming.
It is an awesome (carefully chosen and right word here) task.
There are so many people at Mullen High School who know more than I do, and not just about this place. They know more about teaching, counseling, administrating. I have been the beneficiary of their knowledge and I am humbled by it. I want and need to continue learning, listening and leaning in. I must commit to these actions as a first year principal. There is, perhaps, nothing more important…
I have had conversation-after-conversation that shared the same heart: a focus on what is best for our students. I am so hopeful that I can continue to have those kinds of conversations. I am so hopeful that the results of those conversations serve our kids.
I am so impressed by the people with whom I work. So very impressed.
Oh, and did I mention I am excited for the first day of class?
These last weeks have taught me a few things and they have reinforced others.
- We can never thank people enough for their amazing work.
- We are better when we work together than apart.
- I will make (have made) many mistakes.
- I have to own them and learn from them.
- Professional development meetings (the dreaded Back-to-School Meetings) can be (must be?) improved – changed to reflect the very 21st century learning standards we are teaching our students.
- I am LOVING this work…