Gratitude Day 14 - Elisha Roberts

Just about a year ago, I was at Second Friday, a monthly gathering for gay ladies who are, or who try to be, fancy.  I was there with a couple of friends, and there was a lady staring me down.  Nikki said, "Kate, that woman keeps looking at you."  "Yeah, and she's cute," added Heather.  So I looked back.  We both started at each other for about five minutes.  Sure, we were both super fine, but there was more to it.  We KNEW each other.  We just didn't know how.

After those awkward few minutes, she walked over to me as my friends tried to keep a straight face.  "Do I know you?" we both asked.  We spent five more minutes trying to figure out why we seemed so familiar to the other.  High school?  TFA?  Camp? (My friends still make fun of me for asking about camp.  They clearly never went to camp.)

Finally, we figured out that we had both attended Occidental College, were both in education, and were both mentored by the same fabulous professor.  The similarities stopped there, however.  I was a charter school principal in training.  She was a union representative public school teacher.  I did TFA. She definitely did not.  Her friends worked at North High.  My school was trying to move into an old wing of North High.  Then.  THEN.  She talked crap about Charlie's on facebook.

WHO WAS THIS LADY????

Well, this was Elisha Roberts.  Over the next several months, as I obnoxiously posted about how much I loved my job on facebook, and she posted less than stellar reviews of her life at MLK, we had a few conversations about education.  And then one day she popped the question.  "Are you hiring?"

I was skeptical at first.  We both were.  Could she reconcile her educational philosophy with the charter world?  Would she be able to wrap her brain around all STRIVE Prep had to offer?

But thank God she applied, and thank God she had such an outstanding reference.  I got an excuse to call my friend Mary who told me we wouldn't be best friends, and that we would be a really good match.

She couldn't have been more right.  Elisha is my work wife, my other half, my wing-woman, and just plain awesome at her job.  She is disciplinarian, detective, motivator, teacher coach, data magician, and incredibly positive influence on our students.  Listening to her drop some "Slaves died so you could go to school" science on Mariah B. the other day gave me goosebumps.  Plus she's funny as hell.

Elisha constantly catches things that I've let fall through the cracks.  Things I'm too overwhelmed to do, oh, like PLAN ANY EVENTS OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL DAY, she's on it.  Want to see a play?  Do a ropes course?  Have a dance?  Start recycling?  Elisha's your girl.

And she's so supportive.  If I've had a bad week, or a bad day, or a bad minute, she's the first one there telling me I'm doing a great job as a first-year principal, and that she's glad to be part of my team.  And she says it in such a way that I actually BELIEVE her!

I can't tell you how tired I would be without Elisha here.  What I can tell you is this school wouldn't be half the place it is without her.  So today, I'm grateful for Elisha Roberts.  She IS STRIVE Prep Excel, and we are so blessed to have her.