Student Experience: Lindsey M. – M.Ed. and Principal Licensure Program Video Transcript

So I graduated with my bachelor's, got hired after my student teaching right away and started my career in education.

So it was a long time since I had gone to school and to get my master's.

So I definitely remember that feeling of... am I ready for this? Who am I going to be surrounded by?

And it's that imposter syndrome that you often hear people talk about.

So I distinctly remember being very excited about just being accepted.

A good friend of mine, a teaching partner who's now actually my assistant principal, she had just went through the program and couldn't say enough positive things about the instructors and the professors and just the program itself.

I would say my biggest piece of advice is jump all in. I mean, we've all been in programs where... or even classes... no matter what it is... where you are working towards getting that license or you're working towards graduating, getting those credits, and you need that for whatever reason.

And what you put into it is what you get out. And what I would say in this principal licensure program... I went in thinking I need to take everything I can out of this.

I say that I'm an introvert that pretends to be an extrovert. So it's really hard for me to be in a room of people and mingle.

And I have no problem for whatever reason getting up and presenting and working in that regard.

But I sweat the fact that I've got to meet new people and do that. It's just not my style.

But walking into this program, I really thought: I've got to learn. These are the experts in the room. These are other people that are in my shoes.

So my advice is: be vulnerable. Every assignment is intentional and has value.

Now that I've been an assistant principal for five years... I was a dean for two years, assistant principal for five...

This is my second year as principal. I remember and can distinctly tie things that I learned and conversations that I had and people and relationships I have to the work that I'm doing.

And so, when you're in the program and it feels like it's a lot and you have your personal life... I have three small children. My husband's a teacher.

We were balancing a lot. But I made that the focus. I made that important part of my learning and it has definitely supported me in more ways than I thought.

So I would just say the advice is, again, all in. What put into it is what you get out of it.

And it's important. You're also creating kind of a resume for yourself.

These are all people that will land somewhere. So you could be calling one of your colleagues who's in the program with you a year from now talking about a position, something you're wanting to apply for and they were with you in that four weeks or during that year program or whatever it might be.

So it's something to be mindful of. They're your colleagues and, yes, you might be competing for jobs, but they're your colleagues.

So everything about it is important to just put your best foot forward. That's my advice for you.