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About the Principal
I am excited to begin as your new principal this year! It has been great meeting some of you who have stopped by the school and I am looking forward to getting to know each of you as we begin what I know will be an amazing year!
I am a native Charlottean who grew up off Shamrock Drive and attended Villa Heights, Windsor Park, Eastway, and Garinger (Class of 1986). From an early age, both of my parents stressed the importance of education and that my sister and I were going to have the opportunity to get an education that they missed; my sister was the first college graduate in our family. Although I loved school and learning, none of my teachers encouraged me to be a teacher and I left Garinger thinking I might be a doctor. After earning a Biology degree at UNC-Charlotte and spending a few months at UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law, I decided to become a teacher as I enjoyed working with kids and felt it made a difference.
Later, at the suggestion of my principal, I applied for and was accepted into the Principal Fellows Program at UNC-Charlotte and earned my Masters in School Administration before serving as an elementary school assistant principal at Blythe and Mallard Creek. I then served as principal at Steele Creek Elementary for 4 years, opened Elon Park Elementary where I was principal for 4 years, and then became principal at Mint Hill Middle where I served for 13 years.
At each school that I have led, my focus has been two-fold: 1) building meaningful relationships with staff, students, and parents; and 2) fostering professional collaboration to improve the quality of teaching and learning for the benefit of our students. During my short time at East as your new principal, I understand that our school, students, and community value these same key things. Relationships remain my priority as no meaningful work can occur without them; our relationships give meaning to the important work that we do together. You can expect me to work to get to know staff, students,and parents as people first both during the school day and through extracurricular / community involvement. Students can also expect to see me throughout campus and in classes asking them about what they are learning, their goals, their interests, and their post high school plans.
After 21 years as a principal, it's still my goal to learn new things and to do my job better, more efficiently, and more expertly. This desire is a major reason I chose to seek the principalship at East: it will require me to learn new things, to be better, and to lead in different ways. As your new principal, I understand that I am walking into an amazing school with exceptional students, parents, teachers, support staff, and an awesome administrative team. As only the eighth principal at East Meck in 75 years, it is not lost on me that traditions, processes, and the “way we do things at East Meck '' matter. I am excited to learn more about you and the things you value most as we begin this adventure of Building on a Tradition of Excellence together.
