As the new principal of a high school, one would have it rough. High school students are not the friendliest group of people by any means, and when in large masses, they can be downright terrifying. So what did one new principal do to win over the hearts of her new charges? She joined them in a pep rally! And no, we’re not talking “stand-on-the-sideline-until-required-to-say-a-few-words” joined them, we’re talking “jump-right-in-and-shake-your-groove-thang” joined them!
Dr. Donna “Mickey” Reynolds, 49, has only been the principal of Lake Mary High School in Florida for just a few short months. Despite the fact that her father was the founding principal of the school in 1981, and despite the fact that she graduated from the school herself in 1986, she felt a disconnect from her students, one she attributed to the fact that the school’s long-time and beloved principal had recently been transferred. Here feelings might not have been without merit.
At the school’s first pep-rally back in August–her first ever with the school–the school’s head football coach had warned her that she might receive some booing, as many students were less than thrilled to have a new principal. And he was right. Though Reynolds said that she was glad that it was “only some booing, not the whole gym,” she had a hard time coping with the cold reception, especially after she saw a Snapchat posted by a student which showed a picture of Reynolds with the caption, “#notmyprincipal.”
“I’m not used to being booed,” Reynolds said. “But we kind of accept that as principals; there is going to be a transition period. You know that it’s going to take a while for people to accept you, because they are irritated that the other principal is gone.” However, though she may have accepted the fact that her students would take a while to warm up, she wanted to do what she could to speed up the process.
So, what did she do? She ran out onto the gym floor wearing the signature uniform pants, a senior class T-shirt and black athletic shoes and stood in formation with the school’s step team, Unity Revolution. She then joined in, nailing the rest of the step routine and bringing the house down in the process.
According to Reynold’s, she was impressed by the step team’s performance back in August’s pep-rally and so she asked them if she could join in sometime. The team responded with enthusiasm. Apparently, Reynolds was the captain of the dance team when she was a student at Lake Mary High School, and she was the coach of two different step teams at other high school early in her career.
“We were so happy when we heard she wanted to step with us,” coach, Kelly Lupis, said. “Just really flattered. The school is known for the outstanding dance and cheer teams — and she used to be on the dance team, so that would have been an obvious choice — but she chose us. That meant a lot to us. And she killed it.”
To prepare, she attended as many of the in-school practice sessions as she could and used a video tutorial to practice to at home when she couldn’t. Sometimes, the dance team’s members had feed back for her, which made Reynolds feel great. “It was a great lesson from the coach to show the kids that they could give corrections to adults. It meant a lot to me,” she later said.
When performance day rolled around, Reynolds was worried, but as it turned out, she needn’t have been!
“I didn’t know how the students would react,” Reynolds admits. “My expectation was that they would be dying laughing, that they would think it was hysterical. But I have never heard such cheering. I was so blown away by how much they were cheering.”
Reynolds asked to join the step team’s performance to win over the hearts of her students, and it’s safe to say that her goal was accomplished. After the pep rally, students and their parents were posting the video of her performance on social media with the caption, “THAT’S MY PRINCIPAL!”
“Sometimes you have to be willing to put yourself in a position of vulnerability in front of your children, and you have to be willing to not know what the outcome is going to be, when you try to connect with your kids,” Reynolds said. “Connection cannot be a fight, it’s not a one-way street.
“Sometimes adults — even the best intending adults — have a hard time dropping their guard down and letting themselves be vulnerable in front of their kids. You might be surprised at how much you can learn and take away from it by trying.”
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