The Fund: How did you end up pursuing a career in education?

Principal Garza-Hammerlund: I am a native Chicagoan and a 海角直播 high school graduate. While in college, I realized I wanted to become a teacher. I was lucky enough to obtain a job at the elementary school located in the neighborhood where I grew up.

The Fund: What neighborhood did you grow up in?

Principal Garza-Hammerlund: The Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side near Bogan High School. I began working at Dawes Elementary, which is right behind it, and taught sixth grade language arts and science. While there, my love of middle school began, and I’ve just always felt really passionate about helping kids see their potential and be their best selves. I’ve always wanted to help the kids who need help most 鈥� the kids who saw the least in themselves.

I earned my first master鈥檚 in instructional technology, I was genuinely interested in bringing technology and a constructivist learning model into the classroom. This was one of the things I most enjoyed about teaching science; I like helping students build their own learning.

After 10 years in the classroom, I shifted to teaching library and technology skills. I also coached alongside teachers around technology integration and content areas like math and science. I taught and coached at Sandoval Elementary on the Southwest Side for eight years.

A close colleague I worked with at Sandoval joined Albany Park Multicultural Academy as the assistant principal. I was lucky enough to then join her at Albany Park as an instructional coach. Soon after, I became assistant principal and eventually principal. Albany Park is a long way from the South Side, but it鈥檚 so amazing to craft what we do around our niche of students.

The Fund: What has been your experience with The Fund?

Principal Garza-Hammerlund: The previous principal, Hiliana Le贸n, connected me with The Fund. She participated in the Cahn Fellows Program through Columbia University in 2018. I was her ally in the program. When she left, the first thing I did as a new principal was join a Professional Learning Community. That really helped me connect with other principals around a like-minded topic. I saw ways that we could work together, problem-solve, and focus on seeing the results of whatever it was we were working on, be it student achievement or teacher professional development. It became an important component for my own growth. I was always reflecting, what does my school need? What does my staff need?

The Fund: Can you share about your experience with The Fund鈥檚 Design Challenge?

Principal Garza-Hammerlund: The Design Challenge certainly pushed me out of my comfort zone. It was during a time we were coming through a year of practicing survival skills more often than thriving ones. I was really nervous about doing it. I said to myself, 鈥淭his was a place where you could grow.鈥� I was very proud that I pushed myself to revisit and scrutinize the work that we had done, and look at areas where we could strengthen data collection. Also thinking, we should also strengthen the questions we ask ourselves about that data, and question assumptions about our school community, our students, the staff 鈥� and assumptions I was making about myself.

That was an eye-opening experience for me. I learned to question these assumptions we were making and really peel back the layers. I encouraged and supported the team to accomplish the same. This helped us look beyond our assumptions to make better decisions for improved student learning.

Albany Park鈥檚 2022 Design Challenge entry presented a program in which English language learners and newcomer students were given more autonomy in the classroom and in their learning experience. The program blended students鈥� needs with students鈥� choices to create a more effective, inclusive, collaborative school environment. Learn more about their Design Challenge project in our report Equity-Focused Innovation in Chicago鈥檚 Public Schools.

The Fund: Tell us about yourself and how you got into education as a career.

Principal Kimbrough: I started as the new principal of Jahn School of Fine Arts on July 1, 2022. [It was] my 18th year in education. Education, to me 鈥� I think it was something I always knew I wanted and somewhere I needed to be. Initially, I joined the United States Environmental Protection Agency here in Chicago. I worked mainly in the Office of Public Affairs, where I did community and media relations. About eight years into my career, I realized I wanted to do something different. So I started thinking about it, and I decided to get my substitute certificate. I decided to, at least, take a stab at being a substitute teacher. On my first day, I knew it was what I wanted to do. So from there, it was a matter of figuring out how I could get into teaching. I had no education degree and no experience whatsoever. Eventually, I found an alternative teaching program and got accepted into it. That’s how it all started.

The Fund: How did you find the Jahn School of Fine Arts?

Principal Kimbrough: Jahn actually found me, to be honest with you. I was quite comfortable in my assistant principal position, but I knew at some point I wanted to move into a principalship. Working with The Fund, I had done Leadership Bridge, and that helped me figure out where I was going. I even worked on a Professional Learning Community for assistant principals. I was comfortable at Skinner North [Classical School]; I was happy I was doing work that I thought spoke to the needs of the community. I was doing work around equity, which really is a big driver for me. Then, a member of the Jahn Local School Council reached out. I guess they saw the things that we were doing at Skinner North. I applied, did a number of interviews, participated in a public forum with the finalists, and eventually was offered the role of principal, in which I now sit.

The Fund: Tell us about your time at Skinner North and your transition to Jahn.

Principal Kimbrough: Skinner North, interestingly enough, is one of the few selective enrollment elementary schools in Chicago. Our students come from all over the city and have to test into the school. Something I appreciated during my time there was my work around distributive leadership, really learning that the work of leading a school can’t necessarily be done by the administrators alone. It takes a lot of calling on and pulling on members of your staff to actually help do that work. And interestingly, that has carried over into the work that I’m doing at Jahn.

The first thing that I wholeheartedly did with my staff was reach out and say, 鈥淗ey, I am new, but this work is not going to be done by administration alone. I need you guys to step up.鈥� And overwhelmingly, the staff have definitely risen to the occasion, doing everything from helping figure out what professional development week is going to look like, to revitalizing our instructional-leadership team, to leading interviews for open positions within the school. They have really jumped out there and taken the lead on what needs to happen to move the school forward beyond the actual leadership of the school leader. So that has been something that I could wholeheartedly say has been brought over to Jahn, as well as a lot of work around equity I did at Skinner North.

The Fund: Can you tell us a little bit about your time in Leadership Bridge?

Principal Kimbrough: I think the Leadership Bridge program really did so much for me. And the good part about it is that it provided me, first and foremost, with a continuous opportunity to be a part of a triad to grow as a leader. That triad consisted of my principal at the time and my leadership coach from the University of Illinois Chicago. So while I had some opportunities to do that on my own, Leadership Bridge gave us the chance to come together more often as a team and really build upon the principles and ideals that we learned during our meetings. We could take what we learned from those sessions and actually apply it. It really assisted me in laying the groundwork for thinking about what my next moves were as a leader.

About Leadership Bridge

Leadership Bridge supports the leadership development and career growth of assistant principals (APs) so that they are ready to assume principalship in the next one to two years. It aims to ensure that 海角直播has a robust, high-quality, and diverse pipeline of school leaders. Through on-the-job professional development and individualized coaching sessions from school leadership experts at , the , and , APs work in close collaboration with their principals to prepare for their future roles and to develop succession plans for their schools.

Since the inception of the program in 2019, The 海角直播 has supported more than 60 AP and principal pairs to develop clear succession plans for their schools, and has seen more than 20 APs successfully become principals in 海角直播schools.

The Fund: Can you tell me about your role as an assistant principal at Curie?

Homero Penuelas: On the administration team we distribute responsibilities. I am in charge of literacy among our students. I work with our history, English and world language departments with that in mind. I also work with a focus on what post-secondary education looks like after Curie for our students.

The Fund: Can you tell us about your career and what brought you to Curie High School?

Penuelas: I have been at Curie for over 10 years. I started as a substitute teachers and then became a history teacher for eight years. Currently, I serve as an assistant principal (AP), and I am in my third year. I came to Curie because I wanted to support students like myself 鈥� students who needed the same type of support that I did as a high school student.

The Fund: What inspired you to enter education?

Penuelas: As an undocumented student, when I was able to go to college after I became a resident of the U.S., I saw there were more minorities working facilities in the hallway than sharing a classroom with me. I want to make sure that students like myself, who are immigrants and first-generation college students, are getting support. I hope there is going to be a definite change for the future of my son and daughter, and I want to be part of that change.

The Fund: How do you go about supporting those students?

Penuelas: We offer support all around. With the DREAMERs and DACA students alongside teachers, counselors and stakeholders, we have created a DREAMERs coalition that supports students in different avenues. We are putting our resources and time together to support students as much as possible. Within my post-secondary focus, we provide information to students on financial aid and the college application process that they would otherwise not have.

The Fund: What is a daunting education or management challenge you have faced as an AP?

Penuelas: We did not have a way of tracking our college enrollment among our students before I started. I would always get questions as on students have not yet applied to FAFSA or particular schools, and I didn鈥檛 know those answers. We now know which specific students have yet to do college-related tasks, and that allowed us to fully support students missing some steps. During my time, we grew our college enrollment rate more than 12 percent within two years.

The Fund: What has informed your approach to leadership as an AP?

Penuelas: Talent is distributed evenly, but opportunities are not. My focus is on equity and how we approach leadership. Education is the true equalizer, and we must make sure our students are able to tap into that. Education is one of the chances to life-changing outcomes for the communities we serve; I鈥檓 always trying to increase those opportunities.

***

The Fund: You said that you entered administration to facilitate teacher collaboration and to create a culture focused on kids. Have you succeeded in this mission as principal of Prescott Magnet Cluster School?

Erin Roche: Yes! It is a totally different school than eight years ago when I began. There are three really big differences. First is student achievement. According to 2012 Scantron, the school was in the 32nd percentile in reading and the 50th percentile in math. This past year, we鈥檙e at the 95th percentile in both reading and math. Second, the culture is totally different. The school is student-centered and teachers really care about kids. We do all sorts of fun projects and also have very high expectations. Finally, my teachers work really well together. There is deep collaboration and teachers are having conversations with each other, not just administrators

The Fund: What do you enjoy about being principal of an elementary school?

ER: I taught in elementary school and I had an opportunity to go back. I like being able to see kids grow over time. I can have kids here for up to 11 years. These are the most formative years of your life. We have the great opportunity to mold a kid for the rest of their life and we take that really seriously. Whatever your success is in high school or college it is because of what happened in elementary school.

The Fund: What does your community involvement look like at Prescott?

ER: There are many different facets to that. We have started a couple of new things with family education workshops and alumni relations. Universities do a good job with keeping up with alumni. High schools do somewhat of an okay job. Elementary schools do nothing. It is stunning to me that this is the longest time children will be in any school, yet there are very few long term relationships. So next year, we are going to start an alumni pizza party a couple of times during the school year to keep kids connected and to let them know that we are still behind you.

The Fund: What excites you about the future of education?

ER: Education is no longer a black box; we do not have to wonder what is in it or how it happens. We know how every kid can be successful. As long as there is a principal who is hiring well and making sure culture is all about kids, and there are high expectations and teachers who care about kids, then school is going to be successful. We know the ingredients to make a great school.

***

The Fund: You have served at the helm of Durkin Park Elementary School for over 10 years now. Tell us more about the history of your school.

Dan Redmond: Durkin Park is a very welcoming school. We started with 300 students and have over 600 students now, which reaches 650 when you count Pre-K. We鈥檝e had a lot of transitions: new students, new parents and new teachers. When we have students transfer in, my assistant principal or I meet with them to tell them about the culture. They don鈥檛 have to be tough, they can relax and try to learn. When we first opened, the building we are in was a gifted school. They moved out because it was too crowded with 200 students. We moved in with 300 students in the same building. We are a neighborhood school, but the alderman was not happy with us because we took the place of one of the top-ranked schools in the state because they moved to a different ward in the city. We had a rough time getting our feet wet. However, we have won over the community and have a lot of community programs within the school in the evening. Most people in the community want to be in our school.

The Fund: You are passionate about making sure all stakeholders are engaged in a child鈥檚 education. How do you involve the parents and children outside of school hours?

DR: Most of our programs like Saturday Academy have been in place for years now. The kids love Saturday Academy and so do the parents. We offer discount courses in听computers, sewing, language, math, reading, guitar and violin. We offer more than just academics, like folkloric dance and jazz dance. We only go from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. People can come and take part. If kids are struggling, we encourage them to take part in the extra math and reading, but when they finish, they have the whole day to do the fun things.

The Fund: Tell us more about yourself. How鈥檇 you get to be principal at Durkin Park?

DR: I started out teaching high school social studies听and worked at a therapeutic day school with students with behavioral modification needs for five years. I went to 海角直播 and taught in a grammar school for seven to eight years and decided it was time to move up a little bit and try my hand in administration. I applied to the LAUNCH program after getting my master鈥檚 and Type 75 at UIC. I didn鈥檛 get into LAUNCH the first time, but got in the following year. That led me into my first principalship. I鈥檒l be starting my 13th year at Durkin Park this year.

The Fund: Wonderful! What does an average day as principal look like?

DR: I usually get here after the engineer around 6:15 to 6:30 a.m.听so I can get an hour鈥檚 worth of work in before the building starts getting crowded. Every morning, I make it a point to greet the upper grade kids as they come in for half an hour from 7:30 听to 8:00 a.m.听on morning duty. Then I go around the school to make sure staff and teachers are where they need to be. I go back to the office and deal with what has come up in the morning like parents or networks. I meet with my assistant principal to figure out the rest of the day. We both do lunch duty and we pick up the buzz in the building, what happened in neighborhood, especially on Mondays. I visit classes and do paperwork in the afternoon then I meet with teachers. I then leave around 5:30 p.m.

The Fund: Last question鈥hat pushes you out of bed so early in the morning? Why have you stayed in your role as principal for so long?

DR: The kids motivate me to come to work every day. I was a teacher for 23 years before deciding to be a principal. I met some very good and very poor administrators over the years and saw the difference a good leader can make. I wanted to be a good leader so that鈥檚 why I applied to LAUNCH. I wanted to learn from people who were already principal. I was a product of the 60s so I wanted to make ad difference in the world. I wanted to teach people.

The Fund: Your family taught you the importance of civic engagement at an early age. How have those lessons impacted you?

Tim Devine: I am a born and bred Chicagoan who is committed to the city. I am a lifelong resident. I grew up in a family here in 海角直播that has been and is very committed to public service. Our dinner table conversations included issues about the government, economy, social justice, etc. My father was Cook County鈥檚 state attorney for 12 years. I was his campaign manager in 1996, and my mother was an active leader in our school and church. My siblings (three of them) include an older brother who was a press secretary to a congressman, a sister who is the chair of counseling department at Taft, and a younger brother who is sergeant of detectives. Public service was part of our daily conversations.

I went to Loyola Academy. Part of the Jesuit tradition is service to others, and it was at Loyola that I came to know I wouldn鈥檛 drift too far from public service. I have been intrigued by the intersection of the social sciences and adolescent psychology, so throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies, I honed in on wanting to work at the high school level. I was intrigued back then and still today with high school aged students, as high school is the time period in life when people are morphing from childhood (still a child beholden to mom and dad) to young adulthood by the time they graduate. The transitions that occur in those four years鈥攊ntellectual growth, a broadening worldview, the formation of adult relationships, starting to ask epistemic questions of life (e.g. personal values, religious values, the importance of relationships)鈥攁re important, and I wanted to be a guide to students at that particular age level.

The Fund: What motivates you?

TD: There鈥檚 so much discussion in the field of psychology and business management about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. One book that addresses the concepts of motivation is Daniel Pink鈥檚 “Drive,” in which he compares intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. I tend to not be overly motivated in money or material things. I was taught by family and people close to me growing up that there really is something so noble about the profession of education; about being selfless enough to develop a strong and creative mindset and skill sets within adolescents. I have found value in teaching and honing strong mindsets and skills in my students through the lenses of the social sciences (history, government and economics, sociology, and psychology). My energy is largely drawn from a well-spring of intrinsic motivation that is combined with the extrinsic purposes of developing students who can aid in the creation of better societies and who can better identify and resolve varied issues and problems.

The Fund: What aspects of Payton excite you?

TD:听Students come to Payton as highly charged and capable learners, but we do some really unique things within our all-honors and AP curriculum. We鈥檝e created programs at Payton that twist the idea of education in healthy degrees. Each day we have 49 minutes of enrichment, wherein many things occur: academic tutoring or homework club; our physical fitness and interscholastic sports start during this time (we are the only CPS school that does this; student-athletes can invest themselves in interscholastic sports during a portion of the school day, which frees up time for them to pursue different interests without overly taxing themselves); we offer personal fitness opportunities like slow runner鈥檚 club and yoga, and; we embed our academic clubs (e.g. debate team, math team, science team, poetry slam team) during enrichment.

Every other Wednesday, we have seminars, seventeen of which are taught by students, on unique intellectual subjects such as a seminar on Morningstar Investments (stocks, trading), Judo club (two students participated in Paralympic Pan American games in Judo), 海角直播architecture, Second City improv comedy club, etc. There are no tests, no quizzes, and no homework 鈥� students are learning for learning鈥檚 sake. We have the highest attendance at these learning seminar events. We put a fresh twist on teaching and learning.

The Fund: What鈥檚 an average day in the life of the Payton High School principal?

TD: I typically arrive to campus at听6 a.m.听each day to start by writing a handwritten note to someone in our community. I certainly recognize that there are many, exceptional persons on campus who do much to advance the lives of our students, and it is important that they be thanked for their contributions to our student’s growth. I then do professional reading: journals, articles, books about the profession of education and organizational change and leadership and the like. Then, I open email for 30 minutes at听6:30 a.m. I tour the building with the engineer. Every day takes on a life of its own. I have meetings with a wide-array of persons 鈥� students, faculty, fellow administrators, policy-makers, folks from central office, professors and researchers, authors. At midday, I return to e-mail for 30 minutes. I meet with my instructional leadership team or administrative team for an hour. I have many formal and ad hoc conversations. By听4:30 p.m., I go to one or more student activities on campus. Then, I鈥檓 home around听6:15听or听6:30 p.m., unless it鈥檚 a late day.

***

The Fund: Tell us how you got into the field of education.

Terri Campos: I originally transitioned into education 13 years ago. When I was getting out of high school and going into college, I looked at my predictors for opportunity; teaching was a saturated market. I chose to major in听 human resource management so I could still find a way to teach others. The love of teaching was always there. My transition occured when I was raising a family, doing part time work and looking for something extra to do. At that time, there were substitute teaching opportunities in 海角直播. I paid $40 to get a certificate,I waked into a classroom to sub, and took it very seriously. The joy I felt made me realize this was my home. The feeling of kids looking up to you made me feel like a natural for this job. I believe I was born to be an educator.听

The Fund: What drove you to seek a leadership position?

TC: I taught for five years and was very happy, but I wanted to make a greater impact. I decided to pursue administration. I receive a master鈥檚 in education and leadership. Prior to that, I had a master鈥檚 in business. I joined UIC program for principal preparation. I am here right now as part of Urban Leadership, and I鈥檓 still working on my dissertation. This helped me prepare myself to become a better leader. I chose this leadership role because I believe I could make a difference in classrooms. I wanted to bring joy into education and being there for children when they have needs. People were always supporting me as a child, but I didn鈥檛 know it. I want to educate parents and inform students when opportunities are out there. I want to help students听 find a career that they are happy with鈥� I want to be a resource for children so they can pursue their dreams and fulfill them.

The Fund: What about Lozano Elementary School excites you?

TC: Lozano has a culture and climate that we have built to the point where we are ready to move forward and focus on raising our level of academics. This year, we went up a notch in our evaluation, but I think we are going to get that extra notch to hit Level 1 next year. It has to do with setting the tone and expectation that has made the difference and shifting to the value of education. It was a community shift that needed to be made. Parents don鈥檛 always know how to go about their children鈥檚 education. We want parents to take a stronger leadership role, and we hope to support our parents. I am always striving to make sure the physical and emotional environment is top notch. I am very persistent in making our building feel like it was built yesterday, even though it is 22 years old. I want people to feel comfortable in this setting.

***

The Fund: You have placed a heavy emphasis on language programs at Talcott Elementary School. What has propelled you to advocate for such programs?

Olimpia Bahena: I was not born in the United States. I was born in Mexico and came here as an immigrant more than 20 years ago. I had experience as a French teacher and started my career as a bilingual teacher. I started a degree program and transferred to Talcott as a bilingual education teacher. Most students here at Talcott are minority. Forty-two percent are English Language Learners while听88听percent are low income. I proposed the implementation of dual language education. I presented this to the principal and then one year after, he supported the idea and we transitioned from a transitional bilingual program to a dual language program; now we have both. That makes Talcott a unique school.

The Fund: Your team participated in the Summer Design Program (SDP). Can you share more of your experience.

OB: My first direct experience with the Fund was one year ago when I applied to the SDP and was accepted. I think it was an awesome experience. Unfortunately, we couldn鈥檛 complete it as our team had to disband. However, working with the Fund was excellent. The Fund is very innovative鈥hat is the word that comes to mind. The process of SDP was very helpful because when we started the project, we ended up framing this around social emotional in the upper grades. How do we address unique needs for upperclassmen? I鈥檓 very excited. The work that I did with The Fund helped me out to really define what I want for the middle grades.

The Fund: Why are you a principal?

OB: I think that at the end of the day, you鈥檙e really passionate about your students. I always feel motivated and feel like I need to accomplish something. For me, personally, I just think that I just value education鈥攁s an immigrant, I can say education is worth it. I can see all this potential and I believe there is something we can do about it. I really love my job and when you face success, it keeps you going.

***

Many of us dreaded the age old question, 鈥淲hat do you want to be when you grow up?鈥� It was a question filled with uncertainty. Often, even our tentative answers often proved inaccurate. For Principal Angela Sims of Lenart Elementary Regional Gifted Center, her path to school leadership was a very unconventional one.

The Fund: You have a nontraditional path to education. What did the journey to principalship look like?

Angela Sims (AS): I wasn鈥檛 someone who knew I wanted to go into education from the beginning. I wanted to be a dentist. My undergraduate degree is in biology and biochemistry. I went to dental school for two years and didn鈥檛 like it. I was pretty sick from doing something I didn鈥檛 like. In this interim time, I did medical research in the evenings and had my days free. A family friend was a principal and asked me if I wanted to be a substitute teacher and I had no interest. Yet, I started substitute teaching and loved it. I went back to school. I started teaching middle school science and reading for most of my career. I was placed into leadership positions or opportunities for growth and lead others. I was pushed into that by a former principal, and now I鈥檓 here!

The Fund: Can you tell us more about Lenart Regional Gifted Center?

AS: Our students are from all over the city of Chicago. We draw from the entire city, every single border, from Norwood Park to Edgewood. People think it鈥檚 a misnomer that these are just smart kids, but there are great needs for other types of experience for these students. There is a heightened mental capacity, but that means they are hyper sensitive and have either hyper sensory challenges or a deficiency in sensory skills. We have a very heavy focus of socio emotional needs of a students in a unique way. Being very gifted intellectually means finding ways to constantly challenge them and force them to think outside the box.

The Fund: You are a participant in The Fund鈥檚 Summer Design Program (SDP), which helps educators create and implement innovations that transform student learning in their classrooms or schools . Can you tell us more about the experience?

AS: We saw an opportunity to get this support and find a nice space to problem solve around an issue that we have been working towards. We are working on personalized learning for the gifted population. It鈥檚 capturing student interests and making the work relevant for the student.

The Fund: What about SDP stands out from other problem-solving activities you have done?

AS: It鈥檚 unique because we wouldn鈥檛 have spent this much time problem solving and trying to get to the root cause of what is going on. SDP has pushed us to think from different vantage points and different stakeholders. We probably wouldn鈥檛 have done this on our own. Had we not participated, we wouldn鈥檛 have spent as much time problem solving. We鈥檇 probably be less thoughtful and jump to potential solutions. It has been helpful of going through this process with the support of a coach as well as schools with similar work. It鈥檚 nice to work with thought partners and see schools who have had success with implementing their projects.

The Fund: Where are you now with the innovation?

AS: We are currently in the empathy stage of trying to see these problems from the perspectives of the students. We are confirming that our students are very compliant and will do what is asked without pushback or challenge, but a couple of them are bored and not challenged. We have been discussing our approach to instruction and moving towards a problem-based format with teachers being more facilitative. We are changing the way we look at the role of teachers as not just a giver, but a facilitator to help students learn on their own. We want to help students engage in meaningful tasks and connect their work to something that is current and relevant to see the connection of what they are learning.

The Fund: What motivates you on a daily basis?

AS: My students motivate me. I am a teacher at heart. I love talking about instruction. I sometimes walk into classrooms and forget that I am not the teacher. I didn鈥檛 really like school growing up. Despite doing well, I wasn鈥檛 challenged a lot. I want to make my students鈥� experiences relevant and exciting. We don鈥檛 realize the impact we have as children on educators. I want to make sure they have options and are exposed to as much as possible so they can make decisions that are meaningful to them. I went on a long path to figure out what I did well. I want to push students earlier on. The kids鈥� excitement for learning brings me back. They are amazing.

The Fund: Awesome! Thank you so much for your time and energy!

AS: No problem! Thank you!