When Iris Became Alder
“Even when we go on breaks, have fun on weekends, and relax on vacations, Ms. Alder is still thinking about us. Even when she is at home sick supposed to be getting rest, she is still trying to come up with ways to help us be our best selves and reach the future that we have aspired for ourselves. I don't know about you, but this is a principal I want.”
As we all know or at least should know, Ms. Alder is the beloved principal of Comp Sci High. I know sometimes we think that “she's annoying” or “does too much,” but that just shows how much she cares about us and our future. This is not just the case with Ms. Alder. This is the case with all of the teachers in Comp Sci High. They care about who we are going to be years from now and that's why sometimes they have to be hard on us. Most of us are too focused on our actions of the present day and not as focused on the result and consequences of our actions many years from now.
Ms. Alder and many other staff members do so much in our community that goes unseen or misunderstood. Yes, Ms. Alder is the principal, but not many of us know the real responsibilities that come with the job. The main part of a principal's job is to set and oversee academic goals and ensure that teachers have the equipment and resources to meet those goals. Other parts of the job are overseeing day to day operations, managing school logistics and budgets, and presenting data from school performance to board members.
On top of juggling all of these responsibilities there is a far more difficult task: balancing her personal life and her professional career. Many people in society with less stressful jobs have trouble doing this task, which goes to show that it is not an easy one, but Ms. Alder tries her best.
Ms. Kniesh says that “due to Alder’s dedication to her work and her students she sometimes finds her professional life bleeding into her personal one.” This is not always a bad thing, but it means that even when we go on breaks, have fun on weekends, and relax on vacations, Ms. Alder is still thinking about us. Even when she is at home sick supposed to be getting rest, she is still trying to come up with ways to help us be our best selves and reach the future that we have aspired for ourselves. I don't know about you, but this is a principal I want.
Let's take a step back for a second and find out how Ms. Alder became the principal that we all love and care about. I know you all are waiting to find out when Iris became Alder. Iris was always a girl striving to achieve her goal and her dream career. She found out that she wanted to go into education in the 10th grade. She would spend her afternoons tutoring those who needed that extra boost and support that some teachers couldn't give them. After she started doing that, she was pretty clear on what she wanted to be in the future. She wanted to be a teacher so that she could turn kids and teenagers into self-sufficient, independent, well-rounded young men and women in society.
Therefore Iris went into college knowing exactly who she wanted to be when she got out. But, over the course of her college years, she realized that she didn’t want to just be a teacher. She wanted to be a principal – someone who could really implement the things that would help students obtain the future that she wants for the next generation. She networked with admin workers in college and started to pick up the skills and experience that she would need to become a principal. When she got out she was ready and prepared for what the world had waiting for her. As time went on she ended up meeting Mr. Noah, and then after that she was no longer known as Iris, but as Ms. Alder.
This goes to show that teachers have been in our same position before. Though Ms. Alder had a plan for her future at that age, it doesn't mean that you have to. It's okay not to know your next steps. But, it's not okay to not care about them. Create a goal you want for yourself and start working towards it. GIve the teachers a break, because they do the very best that they can do. They do care about us and who we're gonna be in a couple years. Try to remember that all of your actions now are paving the path for your future. So, the real question is: Who do you want to be 5 years from now? Do you want to be Iris? Or Ms. Alder?