This week’s featured Q&A is with Nicole Smith, principal of Northgate High School.
What is something positive that you want others to know about your school?
Smith: Northgate is a district that is not often recognized by name because it is small in size, but it is mighty in its unique talents and capabilities. It is a place where the faculty focuses on all aspects of the school experience for students and where people start and finish their careers. Northgate is a community that values passion, creativity, personal connection, and students first and foremost. We have a diverse student population and we pride ourselves on our ability to help students find a future path that is not only academically rewarding but personally enriching.
What do you love about being a principal?
Smith: Students. I love being around students. I miss teaching because being a principal is one step further removed from being with students. However, as the principal I have the flexibility to choose how and when I get to be around the students. I can mentor students who are struggling, I can decide to go into the gym and lose at a game of basketball, or I can go into a classroom and learn alongside a group of scholars. I love that I get a bunch of different opportunities to interact with the students.
In your opinion, what is the future of education?
Smith: The future of education looks very personalized, fluid, and skills-based. The workforce is different than it was even two years ago, and it changes so rapidly that I don’t think we can put the future of education into a certain box or give it a certain definition. I remember when one of my students told me that he had his own business. He told me that he buys shoes, wears them, takes pictures wearing the shoes, and then resells them for a profit. I was flabbergasted. You know what? It was a real business and he made real money. We need a system that can prepare students for careers that we can’t even believe are real. The only way to be ready for that is to teach students skills that are dynamic and capable of transcending current titles.
