✍ Scribed by Gloria Rubio-Cortés
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
You might have thought it was a championship basketball game. Banners adorned the school entrance. Balloons flew over the school sign. The school marching band was making its last-minute adjustments in the hallway. Energy and excitement were in the air. Students, parents, business leaders, community members, and former U.S. Senator Jean Carnahan were there to celebrate and recognize an amazing educator.
Instead of a sports victory, I was attending a community celebration honoring one of the school's leaders. No, more accurately, I should call her a community leader. Community celebrations differ from sports celebrations because they are not spectator sports. Everyday people are the stars. Their participation drives the action, and they are at the center of its results. Their success is the community's success. And, unlike sports victories, the pride does not fade into the day's realities. Instead, community success can be seen all around, everywhere you look. It may be in the faces of successful youths, first in their family headed for college, who years ago were written off as not college material. Someone believed in them, and that belief was essential to success.
It takes courage, determination, experience, and the entire community to turn around a failing school. It takes a leader who can rally the neighbors, businesses, government, parents, and the youths themselves to refuse to accept failure. Instead they collaborate, innovate, and take action. A successful school is born, but it takes a lot of work. You may have hoped that a white knight would ride into town and turn things around, but reality sets in and you understand that it won't happen unless you do something. Sometimes it feels daunting; the heavy lifting is hard. In the end, it is the vision of what can be that drives you. You can almost see the generations of youths and their families who will benefit from a successful school. Hope fills the air.
Editor's Note: The descriptions and quotes used in the stories about featured educators were drawn from interviews and research conducted by NCL staff members who worked on the program.
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