TOMMIE SAYLOR: Success is measured one student at a time

“Strength does not come from physical capacity.  It comes from an indomitable will.”

Mahatma Gandhi

By Tommie Saylor

Kennedy High School Principal

Success. Let me explain to you what success is …

Success is when a student that you have fought with over and over and over again – a student that has been disrespectful and even insubordinate, a student that has quit a dozen times and yet always returned to plague our existence – enters my office. 

This student defines poverty. He did not even have a bed to sleep in each night and instead slept on a couch. He was a student that took his meals at school, because at home there was no food. That explained why he has lost so much weight this year, weight that he could ill afford to lose. It also explains why he would become so upset when he was suspended. 

But this is also a student that never fails to greet me when we see each other in the hall. He’s a student that is grown up and is now mature beyond his years. Even though he has very few reasons to do so, he is quick to smile. 

This student has a sharp mind, quick tongue and is filled with pride. 

He walked up to me in my office, smiling from ear to ear, happier than I have ever seen him before. With tears in his eyes he held out his hand for me to shake. He proclaimed that he has "done it."  

He has just completed his final test. He just became the first person in his family to earn a high school diploma. I shook his hand and asked him if all the hassle I gave him – if all the pushing and prodding from his teachers, from his counselors, the hurdles we asked him to jump – was worth it? 

Without hesitation, this student answered with a yes, and went on to say that he felt as if a huge weight has been lifted from his shoulders. His life now has possibilities, meaning … and now he looks forward with hope.

I don’t care what the state standardized tests may say, or what numbers they wish to place on us. The results of the MME, SAT, Work Keys, the top-to-bottom ranking derived by some congressman’s magician, or a politically infused letter grade bestowed upon our school, mean little.

This is success. Success measured in stories like this, in the culmination of years of effort. Success is measured one student at a time.

How and where will you lead them. Making Kennedy the school of choice. Excellence by design.