This week the spotlight is on Paz Ramos, the Principal at Alder Elementary School in Gresham Oregon. Alder has the unique designation of being one of the most impoverished elementary schools in the state of Oregon. When I met Paz my eye was immediately drawn to a pencil sketch he had on his wall. The likeness was uncanny and I asked if the illustration was of him. He said no, but that his daughter had drawn it of a famous basketball star, he didn’t say who. I still think it was his daughters ‘Freudian’ version of her dad, the competitor.
The feeling of healthy competition permeates the halls of this school. Everywhere I went I saw banners and pennants of the various colleges in the region. There was even a map of the U.S. that designated the different locations of each of the teachers at the school, the name of the college they attended and the city where it was located. His goal is that each of his students goes to college. He even has a note pinned on the wall between first and second grade that portrays in proud exclamation the date these students will graduate from their chosen university.
I came away with a new appreciation of long term goal setting. His purpose there seems to be to help each student have the desire to see where a college degree will take them. The only problem I saw with all of this was that there wasn’t a banner from my alma mater, Eastern Oregon University. My goal this week is to make sure that is rectified.
My hat goes off to Paz Ramos, the dedicated teachers and staff at Alder Elementary school for setting the tone of success for our future leaders.
