New Noel Principal Addresses Challenges, Opportunities
Noel Elementary School and Junior High School’s new principal is determined to turn challenges into opportunities.
Samantha Buckridge is starting her 11th year in education. She has a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s degree in educational administration. She has worked as a teacher and as an instructional coach.
“I’m excited because it’s been one of my personal goals,” she said. “I enjoy education. I knew early on that I had leadership ability, but it had to be developed. I’ve had a lot of people invest in me.”
She said her first goal is for students to love coming to school and to feel like they’re taken care of and loved. Her second goal is to improve student learning by identifying areas that need to be improved and working toward improvement.
“A big part of that is working with the great teachers we already have here, putting our brains together and improving on any areas we need to improve on. I want to see any challenges as opportunities.
“Our science and math scores struggled a little bit coming back from last year, so we see an opportunity to collaborate together to improve those scores.”
She said vocabulary is an important subject for a school like hers that has students with many different languages, because on state academic tests, certain vocabulary is used for math and science.
“We have a lot of different needs … academic, language, social,” she said. She said she wants to “make sure everyone is able to communicate and have a sense of collective efficacy.”
She added, “Together, we can do more than as individuals and we’re more powerful together and all of us are responsible for improving education for students.”
Buckridge said it’s also a challenge to believe “you can be the best.”
“It’s easy to think these students can only make it so far because of language or family challenges … but we want each student to find something to excel at and get excited about,” she said.
With that in mind, the school purchased some ukuleles, she said. Some students might not like playing them, but it could be a passion for others. For other students, the outdoor classroom could get them interested in growing fruits and vegetables, for example. She noted she would like to start a construction program.
“We’re wanting to provide as unique an education as our students,” she said. “School’s not just about testing. It’s about teaching them to love each other. It’s about teaching them to ask questions — exposing them to different opportunities so they can have a better life and help others.”