Uplifting student voices drives 2021 Alaska Assistant Principal of the Year to service

The path that led Clarice Mingo to become an assistant principal at Lathrop High School in Fairbanks and now the 2021 AASSP Alaska Assistant Principal from the Year has been anything but ordinary.

Though career assessments in high school indicated she had the capacity to grow into a successful educator, she took a different direction and studied criminal justice in college. However, with low job availability for roles that worked with her family’s needs, when she learned of an alternate route program that would allow her to get her education degree, she jumped at the opportunity.

Although she entered education planning to work as a teacher, she began to sense that her calling might be beyond the classroom while working as an intern in a low socio-economic area.

“As I was in that role, I realized how much the kids look to us as educators for change. They look to us for so much more than what I could possibly give them in that role I was in,” Mingo said. “I figured the best way to be that voice for the students and to be that voice that they needed, I need to change my outlook and tunnel vision toward just being a teacher and broaden my eyes to the idea of perhaps an administrative role.”

Mingo continued teaching elementary students after moving to Alaska. An internal professional growth program within the Fairbanks North Star Borough School District in partnership with the University of Alaska Anchorage provided the gateway for Mingo’s transition from the classroom to serving students in a different role.

The transition included not only going from the classroom setting to administration, but from working with elementary students to being based in a high school and serving as an administrative intern for the whole district.

“It made me realize that no matter where you are, the students still needed someone to have their voice,” Mingo said. “I was in the best place to get in that voice, to really listen to them, to really see the things they saw, things they needed, things we could perhaps bring into the building that would actually encourage them to want to be in the building and just build relations.”

Though Mingo has now been an assistant principal for eight years, including six years at Lathrop High School, the challenges presented by the past school year have emphasized the value of continually improving leadership.

“It has really been a great opportunity to explore how you can do things better,” Mingo said. “We’re very resilient but we have to work together with each other. No one has all the answers. That’s the key thing to know that no one really knows all the answers, but together collectively, we can probably find some viable solutions.”

Next week is National Assistant Principals Week. The National Association of Secondary School Principals is hosting several events throughout the week. You can find more information here.