For Toni Molina, principal at James S. Hogg New Tech Heart, an individual’s legacy is the affect they make on others. “I at all times take a look at our college students and inform the employees that day by day they arrive in, they’re a part of any individual’s historical past,” she mentioned. “As educators, we don’t see it like that as a result of we’re within the thick of it, however that’s what we’re doing. “We’re altering any individual’s historical past day by day we present up.”
Molina speaks from expertise. A graduate of Dallas ISD, she credit her schooling– and the alternatives that got here with it– for altering the trajectory of her household’s life.
“The primary trainer I can truly recall is my first grade trainer, Ms. Welsh,” she mentioned. “She actually made me really feel secure. Given the background I got here from – we had been very poor – and I didn’t at all times really feel like I belonged. I by no means felt like that in her classroom.”
Molina began faculty at Gabe P. Allen New Tech Academy (previously Gabe P. Allen Elementary College) and graduated from Moisés E. Molina Excessive College.
Now, all three of her kids are merchandise of Dallas ISD, establishing a distinct type of legacy throughout the faculty district. Two of her kids graduated from Molina, and her youngest daughter is a freshman at Booker T. Washington Excessive College for the Performing and Visible Arts.
“My dad and mom received their GEDs, however they didn’t go to varsity. The development, not just for myself however my kids, Dallas ISD has been a part of that change,” she mentioned. “Our legacy is totally different now. Now we have a Hispanic man who graduated from school. He’s the primary from my maternal facet of the household to try this.”
Rising up, Molina wished to be an accountant. However she shortly realized her coronary heart was setting her on a brand new path that may take her again to Dallas ISD to be a trainer, and ultimately, a principal.
“I had some workplace jobs, however they weren’t for me,” she mentioned. “After I received out of highschool, I began working at a personal faculty as a pre-Ok trainer. I preferred the tempo of it, and I preferred serving to individuals.”
After some self-reflection, Molina realized her calling was to turn into a trainer.
“I began digging deeper into the place I got here from and among the odds I needed to overcome,” she mentioned. “I began fascinated about among the lecturers that had been actually impactful, and it made me suppose that’s what I’m alleged to do.”
Molina began her educating profession in personal colleges earlier than returning to Dallas ISD.
“Every thing was nice, however I didn’t really feel like I used to be serving my sort of neighborhood,” she mentioned.
After ending the trainer certifications, she began her tenure within the district at Gabe P. Allen. Now the principal at Hogg, Molina finds methods to foster traditions along with her college students that she hopes will at some point turn into a part of the college’s legacy.
Drawing from her expertise being lively in sports activities, Molina strives to advertise Hogg as one massive group.
“One factor I at all times ask is ‘what are we’ and ‘what represents us’,” she mentioned.
The reply to these questions lie within the faculty’s mascot and motto.
At Hogg, they’re the Razorbacks.
Molina greets college students day by day, saying “good morning, Razorbacks” and finds different methods to foster which means behind the Razorback neighborhood in Hogg.
“This yr, we’re actually targeted on what the traits of a razorback are,” she mentioned. “Should you ask our college students, it means we’re resilient, we’re tenacious. We don’t surrender.”