ryht leadership program alum brings big changes

The Art of Leadership at Home*

* Or how one Texas principal went to Harvard, went back to Longview, and helped change the lives of students.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Being chosen to aAend RYHT’s Leadership Program at Harvard is an honor.

It is also a challenge and ulGmately a big responsibility.


It’s not only a chance to grow as an educator and a professional,

but it’s a once-‐in-‐a-‐lifeGme opportunity to make an impact on a

local and statewide level.


Over the years, we have had many remarkable principals aAend.

For some, the experience has been transformaGonal and has in turn transformed the world around them.


Meet Margaret Davis.She aAended the 2008 RYHT Leadership Program as a principal from Forest Park

Magnet School in Longview ISD. The three main things she took from her experience

at Harvard were:


• A passion for and commitment to excellence, and an integrity of process that leR a lasGng impression on her

• High-‐level of knowledge content directly from the researchers themselves, and procedural knowledge to understand and apply it

• A connecGon to a passionate community from all parts of the world


She was also graGfied to find

that aside from learning many new things, she was validated in some of her own

experienGal beliefs.


• Jeff Howard’s research on the Get Smart School confirmed exisGng beliefs that good instrucGon is key to student learning.

• Ron Ferguson’s research about teacher appraisals armed Davis with data and facts to further support her staff evaluaGons.


The knowledge content, pedagogical methods, passion, commitment and integrity

stayed with Ms. Davis long aRer she returned to Longview ISD. ARer being

promoted to Director of the InternaGonal Baccalaureate -‐ GiRed & Talented Program,

the quesGon of how to apply it all sGll lingered.


One day, while driving home from her grandchildren’s house*

* isn’t this how these epiphanic moments always happen?


She was driving past the LeTourneau University campus, up the liAle hill between Quitman and Harmony*

* which are really just street names, but are too laden with meaning not to menGon.


When she found herself wondering why she had never been pushed

before now

to idenGfy her own leadership skills and engage in reflecGve learning.


The next day she told her boss she wanted to start thinking about creaGng

a youth conference based on her experiences at Harvard.

And her boss said, why start to think? Why not start creaGng it right now?


So she did. Margaret contacted a professor at LeTourneau University

who put her in touch with the Vice President, who connected her with the

Director of Conferences and Events.


And they started brainstorming.

Things progressed from there.


The first year 550 students aAended the conference.

The next year there were 900.

The third year they scaled back because they found it worked beAer with smaller groups.

Live and learn.


The goal of the conference was to help students idenGfy their

leadership skills and strengths

and develop a more global, more empatheGc perspecGve.


In creaGng the conference, Margaret stuck closely to what

she learned at Harvard.

In fact, she used many of the same acGviGes and formats. For instance, the weekly New York Times column The Ethicist was

used as a launching pad for lessons on ethics.


She incorporated aspects of the IB/GT program into her conference.

From the 10 core characterisGcs of the IB program, they focused on 2: The ability to think like an entrepreneur or risk-‐taker, and

the strength of character always to be guided by strong ethical principles.*

*This was just aRer the Bernie Madoff scandal, so it seemed well-‐Gmed.


The conference was a success.

• It changed the percepGon of a predominantly minority and low-‐income district.

• It showed students from disadvantaged backgrounds their potenGal to become leaders.

• It fostered a community spirit by convening all schools in the district, allowing students and teachers from different areas to connect.


Because of the conference’s emphasis on caring

Longview ISD Cares raised more than $10,000 to fund programs for people in need on a local,

naGonal, and global level.


Funded programs included:

• A weekend backpack food program that had recently lost funding, and which helped feed 150 hungry local kids

• The Trevor Romain FoundaGon, which provides grief and stress counseling for military children whose parents have been deployed

• Shelters in Afghanistan, where millions of children freeze to death every winter for lack of adequate shelter


Looking back on how the program changed the outlook of her students,

Margaret says:

“Learning to reflect not only benefits the individual, it benefits the world… When you are busy, it is easy not to step back and think about what you are doing and how best to use your Gme and talents. But it’s important to take the Gme to step back, reflect and set prioriGes.”


In Margaret’s view, the ideal candidate for the RYHT Leadership Program should have:

• The ability to think outside the box, take risks, and look for something different instead of the same old answers

• A passionate dedicaGon to children

• The characterisGcs of the leaders she met at Harvard -‐ caring, reflecGve, open to new ideas, fully commiAed, and involved


The 2012 RYHT Leadership ProgramapplicaGons are available!

Be sure to visit our site, www.raiseyourhandtexas.org, and Apply NOW!


http://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org

http://www.raiseyourhandtexas.org

ryht leadership program alum brings big changes

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