We recently connected with Maria Pimienta and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Maria thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?
In education there is a saying, “the students who are the most difficult to love are the ones who need love the most.” My second year of teaching 10th grade English I had a student who was very difficult. Every day this student struggled. I quickly realized he wasn’t going to care how much I knew until he knew how much I cared. Everyday I greeted him and told him I was glad he made it to class. If he was tardy instead of being upset and telling him he was late, I told him I was happy he made it. I made sure I had school supplies for him and even bought him a school sweater and a backpack among other things. I offered him and other students tutoring after school to make up work. As the year went by his meltdowns and outburst decreased; yes they still happened but his attendance, effort, and respectfulness increased in my class. The student passed with a C.
Seven years later, I was an administrator at another school district. I had a visitor one afternoon before the summer break. It was him. He first apologized for being so difficult and shared stories about his troubled homelife. He would hide his pain through outbursts and meltdowns. He would hide his fear acting tough and being disrespectful to every adult. In his eyes, every adult in his life had failed him. As the conversation ended he went on to say he graduated from continuation school, went to community college and had transferred to a university. He was about to graduate as a teacher. He said he wanted to be a teacher like me and give students hope, strength, and love. The waterworks came on and I realized just how deep our impact is as educators.
The magic of being an educator is you may not see the impact you make that specific school year. Some students come back 5 to 10 years later and inform you that you were the reason they stayed in school, or the reason they graduated high school. Perhaps you were the reason they went to college and became a teacher. Being an educator makes you an agent of change. Every day you have the opportunity to mold and change lives. To teach is to touch a life forever. That is my story and I share because teachers are the heart in our school system and arguably one of the most important members of our society.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My entire career has been in education. I have served in the capacity of teacher, school administrator, central office administrator and college professor. I am in the field of education to change lives and impact change. Even now, although I am not in the classroom, it gives me great privilege to problem solve with school principals on relevant school issues on personnel, student achievement, school culture, etc. I take great pride in taking new teachers under my leadership and influencing new administrators. Effective educational leaders can transform a school community for the better and ensure success for both students and educators. I’m a big believer that you must be passionate about what you do. Loving your career can contribute to long term success. When you are passionate about your work, you are more likely to invest time and effort into honing your skills, building relationships, and pursuing opportunities for growth. I consider myself an effective educational leader with a strong guiding power- a dream, a vision, a moral purpose. This mission drives me to be part of something bigger than myself.
Do you think you’d choose a different profession or specialty if you were starting now?
I love what I do and love where I work. This July will be my fifth year at TEACH Public Schools and my 17th year in education. A career is not just a means to earn a living, but also a significant part of your life that brings fulfillment, satisfaction, and purpose. In the field of academia you are likely to hear several times over the course of your career that you have changed someone’s life for the better; in few professions is that true. Through teaching, I had the opportunity to impact children with knowledge, enthusiasm, and persistence to learn. As an administrator in the central office; I have this impact on young teachers, new administrators, and the surrounding community. It’s never too late to pursue a career or find a company that you love. It may require self-reflection, exploration, and sometimes making tough decisions, but investing in a career and an organization that aligns with your passions and values can lead to a more fulfilling and rewarding life. “Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it,” Maya Angelou.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Do not fear mistakes! A lesson I had to unlearn is if we want to climb to the top and be successful we have to be perfect and we cannot fail or make mistakes. This couldn’t be more inaccurate. All of us are constantly evolving both personally and professionally. However, something no one tells us is success is not linear, mistakes will happen. Every time I had a setback; I had a bigger comeback. It is imperative to be aware that mistakes and even failure are part of the process. It is imperative to reflect on what you learned because it brings us one step closer to reaching success. Mistakes are not something to be ashamed of, but rather something to be embraced as a vital part of our human experience. It is okay to make mistakes and be imperfect. Be kind to yourself, be open to learning, and use your mistakes as opportunities to become wiser, better, and more resilient. Keep learning, keep growing, and keep striving for your dreams!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.teachps.org
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariapimientaassitantsuperintendent/