Kristen Lueking
Ed.M. SLP '02
I come from a family of teachers; my mother, father, mother-in-law, father-in-law, and six aunts and uncles are current or former teachers. We often pity the other members of the family who must sit around the holiday dinner table or a birthday barbecue and listen to discussion and debate of standards, curriculum, and the latest antics of this year's particularly challenging student. However, they never complain. Anyone married or related to a teacher knows that being an educator is more than a career choice; it is a lifestyle choice. It is choosing books over business trips, schools over stock options, and kids over cash. Yet, despite the daily frustration and overwhelming challenges we face as educators, we go back for more because, in truth, we love it. My diverse teaching experiences over the last five years have brought me here to HGSE and the School Leadership Program to begin the next phase of what I hope will be a long career in education.
After graduating from Hanover College (Hanover, Indiana) in 1995 with a degree in English and Secondary Education, I began my odyssey when I landed a job teaching English at my alma mater, Austin High School, a small-town, rural school in southern Indiana. After only one year of enjoying the opportunity to teach in the same school as both my mother and father, I married my high school sweetheart exactly one week after he graduated from West Point. We were on the move just one month later, on our way to his assignment at West Point and mine at the New York Military Academy, a private military school where I taught English and ESL. Needless to say, this school full of children from urban backgrounds and far-away countries was a radical change from the fields of Indiana. Again, after less than a year we left for our first long-term assignment, Colorado Springs, Colorado. There, I taught English in a large suburban school, Lewis-Palmer High School in Monument, Colorado. This school was armed with vast resources and involved parents showed me what could be done when education is made a community priority. As I compared my experiences in schools small and large, rural and suburban, public and private, I realized that every child does not have the same opportunity for a quality education, and this is a great part of the impetus that brought me to HGSE.
I chose the HGSE School Leadership Program because I have found quality leadership to be the most desperate need in all types of schools and educational organizations. The School Development strand of the Leadership Program is providing me with a comprehensive view of education, including school design, teaching methods, and nonprofit management. This broad understanding of what makes an effective school will equip me to lead in a variety of education roles in both schools and organizations. The real strength of this program is the people who both teach and learn in it; the faculty is truly passionate about education, and they model effective and inspirational leadership in their ongoing work and teaching. My diverse group of colleagues have also proven to be a wealth of knowledge and an excellent resource in my learning. In just a few short months, those of us in the leadership program have created a community that I expect will last far beyond our time at HGSE.
Where I will go from here is uncertain; the needs in schools are great, and with my husband now a civilian, the world is an open map for us now. I may go back into the classroom for a while as a teacher leader, or I may seek a more developmental role in an area such as curriculum or staff development. I am keeping my options open and waiting to see what inspires me. In the interim, I am so glad that I came to Harvard; it has rekindled my excitement about education and reminded me of why I became a teacher.
