Most Important Skills for a Principal at SEED School of Los Angeles County
Natale, a principal, cites compassion as the most crucial skill, emphasizing the need to understand that "their frontal lobe is not fully developed," requiring adaptability and flexibility in navigating daily challenges. Integrity is also paramount, given access to sensitive student information, while confidence allows effective leadership and the ability to seek support when needed.
Compassion, Adaptability, Integrity, Confidentiality, Confidence
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Natale Mejia
Principal
The SEED School of Los Angeles County
UCLA Class 2010
The Johns Hopkins University, Class of 2013, MsEd. in Urban Education; USC, Class of 2020, Ed.D in Educational Leadership
Ethnic & Related Studies
Education
Education
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Pell Grant Recipient, Took Out Loans, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Compassion for students, recognizing their developmental stage and adapting your approach accordingly.
2. Adaptability and flexibility to handle unexpected situations and changing circumstances effectively.
3. Integrity in handling sensitive student information, maintaining confidentiality and privacy
Transcript
What skills are most important for a job like yours?
I would say there are many skills. But if I had to choose four, compassion is number one. You're working with children, and you have to remember that their frontal lobe is not fully developed.
So sometimes they're going to make decisions that you're just like, "What in the world?" or "What is happening here?" You may not understand everything completely, so I try to extend compassion. So, compassion is one of them.
The next one is being adaptive or flexible. I kind of use those simultaneously. My role as a founding principal requires me to be both flexible and adaptive because you just don't know what the day is going to bring. We have to be able to adapt as people transition in, as people transition out, as we get new students, as we get access to more funding, or where we lose funding.
It really just depends on the month or the week that we're in, and you have to remain flexible and adaptive. So those are two and three.
I would also say integrity is very important in this role. Someone should have this skill set because you're going to have access to a lot of information, from students' birthdays to social security numbers, to past family history, medical history, academic performance—just all of that.
With that, I think it's important for you to maintain integrity. Having the skill set of being able to maintain confidentiality, uphold privacy, and remain as neutral as possible with that information is key. Don't use it against kids or families.
And then the last skill set I would say is probably confidence. That's the one that I'm continuing to develop. Being a principal requires a lot of the ability to lead, to manage, to resolve, to predict, to innovate. There are a lot of different hats that we wear.
So, having the confidence to navigate through that is important, as well as being able to say, "Actually, I'm going to need some support here. I need to take a step back and allow someone to partner with me to help me through this."