October 20, 2023 • 35 mins
What if you could transform an entire school community with empathy, commitment, and innovative thinking? Our spirited guest, Principal Nata Shin, has done just that, and she's here to share her inspiring story. As a woman with a deep-rooted passion for mathematics and a clear understanding of her cultural background, Nata's journey in education has not been ordinary. She guides us through her experiences, from her early days as a student teacher to her current role as the principal of Century High School, illuminating the challenges she overcame and the successes she achieved.
Century High School isn't just your regular school. There's magic happening within its walls every single day. Under Nata's leadership, unique programs have sprung to life, fostering environments where students not only learn but thrive. In our discussion, we touch on the integration of Villa Intermediate School's eighth graders into Century High School, a monumental shift that has proven to be a key success. Nata also shares stories of how the school encourages students to give back to the community, instilling in them values of empathy and service.
Nata's vision goes beyond the traditional confines of education. She dreams of cultivating compassionate leadership through innovative teaching practices. She firmly believes in creating a nurturing environment where students can explore their passions, learn essential life skills, and become the best versions of themselves. As a principal, her focus is on inspiring and uplifting her students, and her dedication to this cause is indeed laudable. Prepare to be moved by this profound conversation as we join Principal Nata Shin on her incredible leadership journey at Century High School.
Visit us at our Buzzsprout site for more ways to listen, links to our social media sites and any referenced materials, and complete transcripts of our full-length episodes: https://bit.ly/SAUSDAmplifyingLeadership
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Episode Transcript
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Bianca Barquin (00:06):
Welcome Amplifiers to another episode of
SAUSD's Amplifying Leadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and today we're not just
amplifying leadership, we'reamplifying a journey that has
come full circle.
Our guest today is PrincipalNata Shin, who leads with zeal
at Century High School, a placethat's not just an institution
(00:28):
to her, but a chapter of her owndevelopmental story.
From walking the halls as astudent teacher to steering the
ship as its principal, Nata hasintricately woven threads of
dedication, innovation andunwavering belief in the
potential of every child sheencounters.
Her leadership journey hasnavigated through roles as a
(00:51):
math teacher, curriculumspecialist, assistant principal
and now the principal, where hereducational journey was once
seated.
Today we dive into the heart ofNata's why, explore the bedrock
of her values and celebrate themultifaceted successes and
unique challenges beingnavigated at Century High School
(01:14):
.
Nata, thank you for joining usand for being a beacon of
passionate, resilient leadershipwithin SAUSD.
So, Nata, I'm going to startwith questions right away.
Having been a student teacher,a teacher and now principal at
Century High School, can youshare the emotions and
(01:34):
reflections you experienced whenyou stepped into the principal
role at a place that saw yourown early days in education?
Nata Shin (01:44):
First of all, I would like to thank you, Bianca, for
this opportunity to sit here andto share with you some of my
journey, especially my journeyin SAUSD.
I consider SAUSD a place thathas groomed me professionally.
I started out as a studentteacher back in 2004 and was
placed at Centruy High School.
(02:04):
I fell in love with the school,for the people and the culture
in that school, the school thatwants to embrace the education
and, most importantly, theschool is where most first
generation of immigrants start.
It relates to my own story.
I started out coming to the USat the age of 14.
(02:27):
I did not know a word ofEnglish.
I started out in a newcomerprogram back in Missouri where
people didn't know exactly whatto do with my second language
and learning how to do Englishor speak English, or learn
English or writing, reading, letalone all of that.
I have found passion inmathematics because that was the
only subject that makes a lotmore sense to me and it takes
(02:51):
less effort to navigate thelanguage and eventually I spent
a lot of time learning that andI wanted to be an expert in at
least one thing while learningthe language and conversations
and just navigate through life.
Century High School was verynew to me at that time.
I never interacted or learnedanything about the Hispanic
(03:13):
culture, but that's a brand newculture to me.
When I moved from Missouri toSanta Ana, I resided in Santa
Ana, having one bedroom with myfamily of four, and just kind of
started my life there.
The only thing that I thinkthat would make a difference for
me is to do what I do best,which is learning math, teaching
(03:33):
math and I was placed atCentury High School.
I was given the opportunity todo what I do best while learning
a brand new culture.
However, there are so manythings that I have shared
between my own culture and theculture at Century High School,
which is making education themean to make changes and a
(03:55):
difference in life.
Bianca Barquin (03:57):
Thank you, Nata.
So, Nata, what you talked aboutin terms of the content area
that was easiest for you beingmathematics is so compelling.
Knowing that in Santa Ana wehave so many newcomers that come
to us right?
Super helpful.
I did want to ask you afollow-up, though though: what
made you decide to go frommathematics teacher and
(04:19):
secondary Secondary mathematicsMathematics curriculum
Curriculum specialist Specialistinto a leadership role?
What made you decide to jumpinto administration?
Nata Shin (04:28):
I remember in 2011, 12, 13, that's when our district
was trying to roll out CommonCore Standards.
I loved that role that I had atthat time as a secondary math
curriculum specialist, where Iworked closely with all the
writers of Common CoreStandards; there were still
(04:49):
Pharaoh and many more people atthat time.
I enjoyed the time working withthem and learning so many
things about teaching, learning,assessments and instruction.
I was, at that time, offered ajob to work with SBAC because of
the knowledge and the abilityto provide PD in multiple
sessions.
(05:10):
At that time it was a very keymoment for me when I wanted to
say, "What do I want to do?
Do I want to keep on writing ordo I want to lead?
I decided to be a leader andstay in Santa Ana and took on a
job as an assistant principal atLathrop Intermediate.
I was able to lead multiplesessions from instruction in
(05:32):
general into MAP testingassessment, bring back to the
instruction and use math as astandard in the content instead
of the only content to teach.
So it's a means of teachinginstruction in general.
That was the key moment for mewhen I had so many offers and I
just wanted to stay in Santa Anaand just follow my heart as a
(05:54):
leader.
Bianca Barquin (05:55):
We are so happy you did and you stayed in SAUSD.
Okay, now let's dive into yourwhy, which you've talked to us a
little bit about.
What has fueled your transitionfrom impactful teacher to
curriculum specialist and,ultimately, administrative
leadership?
I know you talked to a littlebit about that, but tell me a
(06:16):
little bit more about thetransition that you made from
Lathrop into high school and nowhow it feels to be a high
school principal.
Nata Shin (06:26):
I love the role of being an administrator.
I started out as LathropIntermediate.
I did a lot of things, fromworking with the students
social-emotional to working withstaff and teachers and other
peers to instill instruction,assessments and curriculum
together.
I just love that role.
However, when I was doing thatsame job for about three, four
(06:49):
years, I felt like I needed alittle opportunity to grow into
something more.
High school has always been mypassion, maybe because I came to
the United States as a highschool student and the only
place I know and mostcomfortable learning and
exploring.
And I finally found anopportunity to go into a high
(07:12):
school job as an assistantprincipal and work at Segerstrom
High School for another fouryears.
I love this experience atSegerstr om High School for two
reasons.
I was able to do something thatI was not too comfortable with,
such as student services,discipline, and then I was
(07:33):
given, for two years, and alsotraffic safety, active shooter
drills, all of this work, and Iwas doing that for two years and
then my principal at that timetold me maybe you need to
transition because you do somuch data in your discipline
work, because I remember doingsome discipline and I was like
(07:53):
let's take a look at the pastsemester.
What is our trends and patterns?
And I would also overseensafety on the school campus.
I'm like let's take a look atwhat's going on on our campus
based on our data, and I wouldtally the traffic and find out
what gate I would open or close.
So my principal at that timesaid you're just such a mathy
(08:14):
and you like data, you liketallies, so we'll put you in
counseling so you can do masterschedule and you can use all of
these things to work onstudents' academics instead.
And I was moved from doingdiscipline into counseling world
.
And again, I love this worldbecause we talk about academics,
we talk about instruction, wetalk about what courses and we
(08:37):
build a master schedule based onthe teacher's credentials and
also the students' needs.
I got to see the student side,I got to see the master schedule
thing and I just feel like Ithink it's time for me to do
something special about allthese skills, like I want to
lead in a different capacity,not only just run a school
campus, but also how can I usemy knowledge to help build
(09:01):
another person, anotherassistant principal, another
leader on campus, so one ofthese days they can achieve
their dreams on running a school, just like how I was given the
opportunity and I see myself inthis role right now as a
principal at Century High School.
I love working with students.
I check in, I talk to thestudents on a daily basis, I
(09:22):
talk to them about their grades,but I am also using all the
skills and knowledge that I have, from curriculum instruction to
building programs to looking atstudent discipline, to look at
the traffic, working with theschool police, working with the
community partners and I feltall of these opportunities that
were given to me by Santa AnaUnified has given me all of this
(09:45):
opportunity to do what I'mdoing right now.
One of the things that SteveJobs talked about was when you
look back you can move forwardand know what's exactly
happening, but when you lookbackward you're going to start
connecting all these dots and Ifelt that being a curriculum
specialist, learning aboutleadership, PD, was one dot.
(10:07):
Going and leading somecurriculum instruction
assessments at Lathrop for fouryears, was another dot.
Doing discipline at Segerstrom,doing master schedule.
Learning about high school Inc.
at Valley, that was my shortone semester, and learning
different academies and howcollege and career work, that's
(10:28):
another dot.
And I felt if I connect allthose dots, I feel I am ready to
lead and also to serve mycommunity at Century High School
and that's where I started foreverything.
I started to love teaching, tolearn how to teach and now learn
how to lead and also teachingat the same time.
But now I'm teaching differentgroups of audience and I'm
(10:50):
loving it.
Bianca Barquin (10:52):
I love it.
So your learner is differentand you've come full circle.
Super exciting.
So next question for you (10:58):
as you lead with a deep-seated
belief in the resilience of allchildren, could you walk us
through the core values thatanchor your leadership,
especially in shaping anenvironment that nurtures both
academic and emotional growth?
Nata Shin (11:17):
My core values in leadership is to provide the
conditions where the students,or anyone, can grow to their
fullest potential.
One of the quotes I really likefrom Sir Ken Robinson said,
"You cannot predict the outcomeof human development.
All you can do is, like afarmer, create the conditions
(11:39):
under which it will begin toflourish.
I carry that quote with me allthe time because I reflect on my
own journey as a learner, as anew immigrant, as a professional
.
If I wasn't given the conditionto learn and the opportunity to
practice, then I won't bereaching my fullest potential.
(12:02):
With that in mind, I aspire tocreate a condition in my school
where the students are given thecondition, the opportunity, so
that they can reach theirpotential, specifically at the
high school campus.
I think I say this many timeswith my staff, what makes a high
school campus different from aK–8 or TK–8?
(12:25):
Two things in high school thatare different.
Number one is activities andthe second one is athletics.
Those are not everything forthe students in high school, but
it is a motivation to get themto come to the school and to
enjoy the high school life.
With all these activities thestudents will be given a chance
(12:47):
to do leadership, to learn aboutsome activities that they can
explore to reach their potential.
Many other things that we do onthe high school campus and
other campuses also do isexploring college and career.
However, with the high school,college and career is going
(13:07):
along with the interests ofathletics and activities and
with all of this work togetheras we work together, that's the
condition that we create for thestudents to get up early in the
morning to do some service.
While doing these services inthe school, they would learn a
career and a job and explore thecollege options for themselves.
(13:28):
So those are the conditionsthat I would like to create and
me as a leader, I would like allmy leaders on our campus, from
athletics director to activities, to counselors, to higher ed to
know that I would do anythingto create conditions for them so
that they can also rise to thatfullest potential, to provide
(13:49):
our students the fullestpotential condition that they
have.
Bianca Barquin (13:53):
You really are doing that.
You are creating the conditionsfor success.
You're creating the conditionsfor students to actualize the
graduate profile.
Amazing.
So Century High School boasts amyriad of vibrant programs,
from the Teach Academy,E-Business Academy, Building
Trades to the cutting edgeeSports Lab.
(14:15):
Can you describe those programsfor our listeners and how do
you ensure each program not onlythrives independently but also
cohesively enriches the holisticCentury High School experience?
Nata Shin (14:29):
Thank you so much for highlighting the best programs
we have at Century High School.
Indeed, each of those programshave their own potential and the
finished line for their program.
So, for example, let's talkabout the Teach Academy.
Teach Academy has been atCentury High School for almost
three decades, almost since thebeginning when the school was
(14:51):
open.
Similarly with e-businessprogram, those academies provide
the students opportunity to notonly just explore the beginning
but also go to the finish lineon saying three years later,
what have they accomplished?
The newer programs, such asBuilding Trades, just helping
the students to start onexploring different trades in
(15:13):
this academy, from carpentry toelectricity to plumbing and many
more.
So some of the work still haveto be done with Building Trades
by providing more opportunitiesfor the outside partners to come
in, provide the finish linepathway for our students and
also the mentorship.
Our goal is to get our BuildingTrade students a license,
(15:37):
something that they can startout and get a job.
And you know, in many of thesetrades a student at 18 years old
with the license they can starta career and they can get paid
at the starting rate at $100,000just by 18 years old.
Last year we had one studentstarted with the plumbing and he
(16:00):
got a job right away and he'smaking it in life with a good
salary of $100,000 without anystudent loan.
The other program that we haveis the eSports program.
It's a beautiful facility.
We are still on the early agebecause eSports Lab just opened
three days and then the pandemichit, so we never had a chance
(16:22):
to actually see it in the waythat was intended to be.
And then, three years later now, after the pandemic, we have to
find out what we really want todo with this eSports Lab.
Recently we have a teacher whois awesome in his online profile
on gaming, amazing in coding.
So we know exactly where we areheading with eSports program
(16:45):
and our goal is to get thestudents inspired into
programming, gaming industry.
And there's many things that wecan do with it.
And you're right.
How do we make all of theseprograms cohesively work
together?
How do we create the conditionswhere the students can work
together and use all of theirskills to enhance the programs
(17:07):
that we have?
To be truthful, that is thework that yet to come.
Some of them are in earlier agethan the other.
The teacher academy, theeBusiness, are in full potential
, now how do we bring the otherones up to speed, but my number
one goal is that the students,once they enter a program, an
academy, they will get out ofthat program with a license and
(17:30):
with something tangible for themto start in life either it's a
career or a college.
And how do we use one skillsetto with another in order to make
this work?
That's going to be our work tocome.
I would like to be invited backin two years later and I will
share with you some of theoutcome that we have.
Bianca Barquin (17:48):
I am excited.
Consider that a formalinvitation.
We'd love to have you back.
Now, I know this is a uniqueyear for Century High School
because there is constructionhappening at Villa Intermediate
School, right, Villa Fundamental.
You now have eighth gradestudents on campus.
So my question for you is withthe integration of eighth grade
(18:09):
students from Villa FundamentalIntermediate School this year,
how are you and your teamensuring that this unique blend
of educational stages is bothharmonious and mutually
enriching for all studentsinvolved?
Nata Shin (18:24):
First of all, thank you, Cabinet and the District,
for this approval for eighthgraders from Villa Intermediate
to be on our campus.
It's an opportunity for CenturyHigh School to show the
community, other than ourselves,of how amazing the school is,
how we have different facilitiesand also programs that are
(18:44):
unique in Santa Ana to offer toour students.
I am a professional in SantaAna Unified for almost 20 years,
so to me, the students at Villa, the students at Valley, the
students at Carr, none of thosestudents are anyone's students.
They are all my students andhaving them on our campus is an
opportunity for us.
(19:05):
We invite them and theirparents many of our events on
campus and remember I shared,like the only, what's the only
difference between K-8 and highschool?
It's activities and it'sathletics.
All of our students, eighthgraders, their parents, their
teachers, are always welcome toall of our activities.
(19:25):
We invited them to our assembly, we invited them to our
back-to-school night, to ourfootball games, to every single
event that we have.
Eventually, I would say aroundearly January, we're going to be
working with their counselorsand our counselors to make the
smooth transition from theeighth grade to ninth grade,
with master schedule, withenrollment and registration.
(19:48):
I love working with ourstudents and parents, especially
in that neighborhood.
Now the Villa students andparents don't see us as another
high school.
They feel us, this is ourcommunity.
I remember when the principal,John Bennett, at Villa, invited
their parents to meet me and Ishared with them:
(20:08):
If I were you, I would beextremely happy for the fact
that eighth graders are onCentury campus.
The reason is not only you haveone amazing principal to watch
out for your kid, you have two,and in a way I was kind of
complimenting myself as aprincipal of Century, but I
think it's just a fact that theydon't recognize.
And I said instead of havingtwo counselors for your eighth
(20:31):
grade students, we have sixcounselors here.
We're all one big family.
Instead of having just oneassistant principal, we have
four more, and so we are a bigone family.
And many of us Villla studentshave their older siblings
already on campus, already analumni at Century.
So it's just one year earlierand I wanted them to meet me.
(20:53):
Not only they have one wellnesscenter at their school, now
they have another one at mycampus as well, and now it's
really nice to see how eighthgraders and also the teachers
are using our state of the artlibrary on a daily basis, when
they have meetings, when theyhave collaborations or anything
like that.
We open our campus to all ofthem because we all want big
(21:14):
SAUSD family.
Bianca Barquin (21:16):
I love the inclusivity, I love the
collaboration, and the fact thatyou have future Centurions on
your campus is pretty amazing.
Can you share a recent successstory from Century High School
that embodies the spirit andobjectives of your leadership in
the school's mission?
Nata Shin (21:36):
I would say one of the things that I enjoy the most
is building capacity on ourcampus.
The pandemic has allowed someof our teachers and experts on
our campus, leaders on ourcampus, retired in the past few
years.
It's been a challenge in manycapacities, but I have worked
very closely with almost everysingle aspect in the school to
(22:00):
build up people, provide peoplethe conditions and also the
opportunity to be the leaderthat they didn't think they were
, for example, master schedule.
That is something that I reallylove, clearly, and when I was
at Century High School, noteveryone knew how to build a
master schedule.
Now we have about fivecounselors who know exactly
(22:21):
what's going on and we can talkmaster schedule all day because
we do have the capacity in theschool.
As a principal, at some pointyou get to spend more time with
the leaders on campus thanbuilding up the students because
you don't get to see thestudent on a daily basis of one
hour a day with their schedule.
So at this moment, I would sayone of my biggest success is to
(22:45):
build capacity in our schoolfrom the student services aspect
to athletics, to activities andthe last one is counseling, and
I'm super proud of the workthat we have done up to this
point, but we also have a lot ofwork to do, because one of
these days I want everyone inSanta Ana to say Century is the
(23:06):
best school, the best highschool we have in Santa Ana and
everyone would flock over andsay let's go to Century instead.
Bianca Barquin (23:13):
I love it.
So, speaking of buildingcapacity, the mentorship pathway
at Century High School is anotable aspect.
How has this been crafted toensure students not only receive
guidance but also learn theintrinsic values of being
positive mentors themselves?
Nata Shin (23:33):
One of the things that I love from the very
beginning of my days at Centuryis we have the greatest parents
who are our students' firstteachers, who show the students
the beauty of hard work, thebeauty of service, and I think
many of our students came inwith that innate ability that
(23:54):
we're going to be working hard.
And the lessons that we providethrough the classrooms, through
math, through English, theactivities that we do through
ASB and the Teach Academy, isall around service.
Working hard is one of theaspects that our students do the
best.
(24:14):
We want to transform that, theworking hard part from the
physical hard into mentally hard, physically hard, of course,
and academically hard.
Through multiple programs thatwe have, such as the eSports,
the Building Trades, theeBusiness Academy, the Teach
Academy, you can see that we aresurfacing and building on the
(24:37):
students' intrinsic motivationalready with hard work.
You can find it superchallenging when you learn how
to do programming and doesn'tget that bug to go away in
eSports lab.
You can work super hard and tryto make sure all these numbers
add up in eBusiness and, ofcourse, when you want to build a
toolbox, Building Trades willgive you some physical hard work
(25:00):
challenge right there.
And another hard work is how dowe build the next capacity,
which is teaching and ourstudents, especially in the
TeachAcademy, they would go every day
to the local elementary toprovide the tutoring for our
students in elementary, and oneof the things that I love the
most is the service in CenturyHigh School.
(25:23):
I want to share with you onecool story.
At Century we have this thingcalled the Giving Tree, and many
of our students wanted tocollect some gift from our
teachers or friends and bring itback to some of the elementary,
such as Kennedy, Jefferson andMadison, and to provide a gift
(25:43):
to the students who are in needthe most during Christmas time,
and to me it's just a regularstory.
However, if you think closely,our students don't have a lot,
but they give everything theyhave and more to someone who
they deem more needed, and thatis the kindness and the
intrinsic motivation that theyhave just to give more, to be of
(26:06):
a service to people.
And let's just work hard, useour labor to help another family
, help another kid have ahappier moment or have a happier
Christmas, and I think that isa great motivation and that's a
lesson that I'm sure they learnvery well from their own parents
and we just have to build on itby providing different
(26:27):
academies, different academicprograms, so that they can use
that intrinsic motivation intosomething that can deem into the
GPA and that will get them togo further in life, such as
college, and be more successfulin that area, so they can give
more and provide more, becausethat's what they want to do for
our community.
Bianca Barquin (26:49):
So there's a couple of things that you've
said that are super compellingfor me.
One is recognizing parents asthe primary educators of their
children.
That is a beautiful partnership.
Two, you talked about serviceand being of service and giving
back to the community and thoselessons that are learned for our
(27:09):
students.
That's actually one of thecharacteristics of the graduate
profile, and those examples thatyou shared actually exemplify
actualization of our GraduateProfile.
Beautiful.
Nata, as you gaze into thefuture, what aspirations do you
hold for Century High and how doyou envision navigating the
(27:30):
journey towards these goalsalongside your dedicated team?
Nata Shin (27:35):
Like, I am a professional product of SAUSD.
I have heard stories aboutdifferent schools.
I have gone to about sevendifferent campuses in Santa Ana
Unified.
Each campus has something thatthe community really loves and I
would like to build CenturyHigh School as a campus that
everyone wants to send theirchildren to.
(27:56):
It's a campus where we producestudents as a whole, the
students who intrinsicallyalready care for others with
empathy, and we want to providethem the pathway so they can
build their academic and collegeand career success.
The one thing that I want towork with my team is to have
(28:16):
them have the same ambition asme, so that we, with that
ambition, we can work, we havepatience for one another, we
teach each other and we buildcapacity for one another so each
one of us can achieve thatvision.
And my hope is one of these daysour parents say look at Century
High School.
I like to send my kids therebecause this is a school that
(28:39):
not only provides opportunitiesbut also the environment where
my students will growacademically, physically and
mentally, and they have the mostbeautiful hearts because of the
school.
With all of that, I'd like toinvite all of our parents and
the community of Santa AnaUnified and beyond, to come and
(29:00):
share some of those moments withus.
We are at the early age wherewe are building, we are working
on all of those capacities.
We want to share our programs.
We are working to fine tune ourcraft every day.
It's still a work in progress,but we have a tremendous group
of people who are there everyday, working tirelessly, trying
(29:23):
to build it the way we wouldlike to see it one day.
Bianca Barquin (29:26):
I think you're well on your way to doing that,
and you do have a beautifulcommunity, and I'm sure folks
are going to take you up on youroffer.
So, Nata, what's a personalstory or perhaps a little-known
fact that you'd like to sharewith our listeners today, so
they know how much you love andbelieve in what you're doing at
(29:48):
Century High School?
Nata Shin (29:50):
Thank you for this question.
I think one of the fun factsthat our Century community knows
is that I have only one childand I do send my own child to my
own school.
I have many other principlesfrom elsewhere and say, hey,
send your kid to my schoolbecause I know she can achieve,
but I'm like, no, that's not thereason I would like to bring my
(30:11):
own daughter to school, to myown school, because I do believe
in the work that I do, I dotrust the work that our teachers
and the staff do in our schooland I love this community.
One other thing that I reallylike about Century High School
and I don't think you can findit in any books or academics is
the empathy.
(30:32):
One of the quotes that I learnedfrom Brené Brown in a book Dare
to Lead is she said somethingaround the line of in the past
jobs were about muscles, nowthey are about brains, but in
the future they are about theheart.
And as the heart is the empathy,the ability to love, to
(30:55):
empathize and use that empathyand the heart that you have to
lead in any capacity that youhave, and of course the skills
come with it, but the empathy isthe root of the motivation and
the inspiration to for oneperson to achieve more.
One of the things that I likefrom that book is for every
(31:16):
Christmas, I post this one on mysocial media all the time and I
know my my Century familiesknow that I'm always on social
media every night at the end ofthe day.
One of the quotes that I likeis Brené Brown said, "wishing
you a heart open enough to staycurious, strong enough to face
(31:37):
pain and brave enough to feeljoy, and it's all about empathy.
So I hope everyone have a niceevening if you listen to this
end of the evening and wish youwith a heart that is open for
every emotion and empathy andlove toward one another and in
your community and your family.
Bianca Barquin (31:59):
Beautiful.
Thank you for sharing thatstory with us, Nata.
Before we sign off, it's timefor our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
Nata, if you could amplify themessage or lesson of one
educator or leader who's made asignificant impact in your
journey, who would it be andwhat is that resonating message?
Nata Shin (32:22):
That's a tough question to narrow it down to
one person.
I have grown up here in SantaAna Unified as a professional
for 19 years.
Each stage of life that I havegone through in different school
sites, I am so blessed and verylucky to have one person that
always there to help me grow andto identify some areas that I'm
(32:43):
very strong in and how to workon my strength.
I would start out with thefirst teacher that I had, who
now is also an athleticsdirector at Godinez.
His name is Bill Snyder.
He taught me how to teach math.
I taught myself and I nevertaught students, but he was the
first one.
The one that opened the door forme into leadership is Ed Winch
(33:06):
ester.
He's retired by now.
The one that taught me so muchabout curriculum instruction,
how to be a strong woman, wasMichelle Rodriguez.
The one that took a chance onme as a leader, as an assistant
principal, was Adrian Ayala.
The one that say you use toomuch math in discipline and
(33:28):
traffic and active shooterdrills, let's move you into
counseling.
Now you get both.
That was Duncan McCulloch.
And finally, my latest promotionis to become a principal and I
would like to thank Jerry andLorraine for trusting me with
this very big job and for givingme the opportunity and the
(33:52):
conditions where I can explore,where I can use my expertise and
passion and put it into workfor the community that I love
dearly.
So thank you to all of thoseleaders and mentors in my life.
I know I have a lot more peopleto be thankful for, but those
are the ones that have helped me, open the door and just trust
(34:13):
me with their heart, with thepositions that I held.
So thank you so much for youand for the opportunities that
you have given me.
Bianca Barquin (34:22):
What powerful acknowledgments.
Nata, your journey is atestament to the extraordinary
impact one can carve throughdedication, empathy and a
resilient belief in thepotential of every student.
To our devoted listeners, wehope that the stories and
insights shared today resonatewith you, igniting sparks of
(34:42):
inspiration and painting a richtapestry of what compassionate
leadership coupled withinnovative approaches in
education can truly unfold.
Nata's commitment not to justlead but to uplift, inspire and
forge pathways of possibilitiesnot only illuminates the halls
of Century High School but alsolightens the path for leaders in
(35:05):
every capacity to think beyondthe conventional and to act with
heart, wisdom and unwaveringfaith in the capacities of those
they lead.
I'm Bianca Barquin, and this isSAUSD's Amplifying Leadership,
where every voice, story andpassionate heart finds a stage
to inspire.
Thank you for joining us anduntil next time, keep amplifying
(35:29):
.
Welcome Amplifiers to another episode of
SAUSD's Amplifying Leadership.
I'm your host, Bianca Barquin,and today we're not just
amplifying leadership, we'reamplifying a journey that has
come full circle.
Our guest today is PrincipalNata Shin, who leads with zeal
at Century High School, a placethat's not just an institution
(00:28):
to her, but a chapter of her owndevelopmental story.
From walking the halls as astudent teacher to steering the
ship as its principal, Nata hasintricately woven threads of
dedication, innovation andunwavering belief in the
potential of every child sheencounters.
Her leadership journey hasnavigated through roles as a
(00:51):
math teacher, curriculumspecialist, assistant principal
and now the principal, where hereducational journey was once
seated.
Today we dive into the heart ofNata's why, explore the bedrock
of her values and celebrate themultifaceted successes and
unique challenges beingnavigated at Century High School
(01:14):
.
Nata, thank you for joining usand for being a beacon of
passionate, resilient leadershipwithin SAUSD.
So, Nata, I'm going to startwith questions right away.
Having been a student teacher,a teacher and now principal at
Century High School, can youshare the emotions and
(01:34):
reflections you experienced whenyou stepped into the principal
role at a place that saw yourown early days in education?
Nata Shin (01:44):
First of all, I would like to thank you, Bianca, for
this opportunity to sit here andto share with you some of my
journey, especially my journeyin SAUSD.
I consider SAUSD a place thathas groomed me professionally.
I started out as a studentteacher back in 2004 and was
placed at Centruy High School.
(02:04):
I fell in love with the school,for the people and the culture
in that school, the school thatwants to embrace the education
and, most importantly, theschool is where most first
generation of immigrants start.
It relates to my own story.
I started out coming to the USat the age of 14.
(02:27):
I did not know a word ofEnglish.
I started out in a newcomerprogram back in Missouri where
people didn't know exactly whatto do with my second language
and learning how to do Englishor speak English, or learn
English or writing, reading, letalone all of that.
I have found passion inmathematics because that was the
only subject that makes a lotmore sense to me and it takes
(02:51):
less effort to navigate thelanguage and eventually I spent
a lot of time learning that andI wanted to be an expert in at
least one thing while learningthe language and conversations
and just navigate through life.
Century High School was verynew to me at that time.
I never interacted or learnedanything about the Hispanic
(03:13):
culture, but that's a brand newculture to me.
When I moved from Missouri toSanta Ana, I resided in Santa
Ana, having one bedroom with myfamily of four, and just kind of
started my life there.
The only thing that I thinkthat would make a difference for
me is to do what I do best,which is learning math, teaching
(03:33):
math and I was placed atCentury High School.
I was given the opportunity todo what I do best while learning
a brand new culture.
However, there are so manythings that I have shared
between my own culture and theculture at Century High School,
which is making education themean to make changes and a
(03:55):
difference in life.
Bianca Barquin (03:57):
Thank you, Nata.
So, Nata, what you talked aboutin terms of the content area
that was easiest for you beingmathematics is so compelling.
Knowing that in Santa Ana wehave so many newcomers that come
to us right?
Super helpful.
I did want to ask you afollow-up, though though: what
made you decide to go frommathematics teacher and
(04:19):
secondary Secondary mathematicsMathematics curriculum
Curriculum specialist Specialistinto a leadership role?
What made you decide to jumpinto administration?
Nata Shin (04:28):
I remember in 2011, 12, 13, that's when our district
was trying to roll out CommonCore Standards.
I loved that role that I had atthat time as a secondary math
curriculum specialist, where Iworked closely with all the
writers of Common CoreStandards; there were still
(04:49):
Pharaoh and many more people atthat time.
I enjoyed the time working withthem and learning so many
things about teaching, learning,assessments and instruction.
I was, at that time, offered ajob to work with SBAC because of
the knowledge and the abilityto provide PD in multiple
sessions.
(05:10):
At that time it was a very keymoment for me when I wanted to
say, "What do I want to do?
Do I want to keep on writing ordo I want to lead?
I decided to be a leader andstay in Santa Ana and took on a
job as an assistant principal atLathrop Intermediate.
I was able to lead multiplesessions from instruction in
(05:32):
general into MAP testingassessment, bring back to the
instruction and use math as astandard in the content instead
of the only content to teach.
So it's a means of teachinginstruction in general.
That was the key moment for mewhen I had so many offers and I
just wanted to stay in Santa Anaand just follow my heart as a
(05:54):
leader.
Bianca Barquin (05:55):
We are so happy you did and you stayed in SAUSD.
Okay, now let's dive into yourwhy, which you've talked to us a
little bit about.
What has fueled your transitionfrom impactful teacher to
curriculum specialist and,ultimately, administrative
leadership?
I know you talked to a littlebit about that, but tell me a
(06:16):
little bit more about thetransition that you made from
Lathrop into high school and nowhow it feels to be a high
school principal.
Nata Shin (06:26):
I love the role of being an administrator.
I started out as LathropIntermediate.
I did a lot of things, fromworking with the students
social-emotional to working withstaff and teachers and other
peers to instill instruction,assessments and curriculum
together.
I just love that role.
However, when I was doing thatsame job for about three, four
(06:49):
years, I felt like I needed alittle opportunity to grow into
something more.
High school has always been mypassion, maybe because I came to
the United States as a highschool student and the only
place I know and mostcomfortable learning and
exploring.
And I finally found anopportunity to go into a high
(07:12):
school job as an assistantprincipal and work at Segerstrom
High School for another fouryears.
I love this experience atSegerstr om High School for two
reasons.
I was able to do something thatI was not too comfortable with,
such as student services,discipline, and then I was
(07:33):
given, for two years, and alsotraffic safety, active shooter
drills, all of this work, and Iwas doing that for two years and
then my principal at that timetold me maybe you need to
transition because you do somuch data in your discipline
work, because I remember doingsome discipline and I was like
(07:53):
let's take a look at the pastsemester.
What is our trends and patterns?
And I would also overseensafety on the school campus.
I'm like let's take a look atwhat's going on on our campus
based on our data, and I wouldtally the traffic and find out
what gate I would open or close.
So my principal at that timesaid you're just such a mathy
(08:14):
and you like data, you liketallies, so we'll put you in
counseling so you can do masterschedule and you can use all of
these things to work onstudents' academics instead.
And I was moved from doingdiscipline into counseling world
.
And again, I love this worldbecause we talk about academics,
we talk about instruction, wetalk about what courses and we
(08:37):
build a master schedule based onthe teacher's credentials and
also the students' needs.
I got to see the student side,I got to see the master schedule
thing and I just feel like Ithink it's time for me to do
something special about allthese skills, like I want to
lead in a different capacity,not only just run a school
campus, but also how can I usemy knowledge to help build
(09:01):
another person, anotherassistant principal, another
leader on campus, so one ofthese days they can achieve
their dreams on running a school, just like how I was given the
opportunity and I see myself inthis role right now as a
principal at Century High School.
I love working with students.
I check in, I talk to thestudents on a daily basis, I
(09:22):
talk to them about their grades,but I am also using all the
skills and knowledge that I have, from curriculum instruction to
building programs to looking atstudent discipline, to look at
the traffic, working with theschool police, working with the
community partners and I feltall of these opportunities that
were given to me by Santa AnaUnified has given me all of this
(09:45):
opportunity to do what I'mdoing right now.
One of the things that SteveJobs talked about was when you
look back you can move forwardand know what's exactly
happening, but when you lookbackward you're going to start
connecting all these dots and Ifelt that being a curriculum
specialist, learning aboutleadership, PD, was one dot.
(10:07):
Going and leading somecurriculum instruction
assessments at Lathrop for fouryears, was another dot.
Doing discipline at Segerstrom,doing master schedule.
Learning about high school Inc.
at Valley, that was my shortone semester, and learning
different academies and howcollege and career work, that's
(10:28):
another dot.
And I felt if I connect allthose dots, I feel I am ready to
lead and also to serve mycommunity at Century High School
and that's where I started foreverything.
I started to love teaching, tolearn how to teach and now learn
how to lead and also teachingat the same time.
But now I'm teaching differentgroups of audience and I'm
(10:50):
loving it.
Bianca Barquin (10:52):
I love it.
So your learner is differentand you've come full circle.
Super exciting.
So next question for you (10:58):
as you lead with a deep-seated
belief in the resilience of allchildren, could you walk us
through the core values thatanchor your leadership,
especially in shaping anenvironment that nurtures both
academic and emotional growth?
Nata Shin (11:17):
My core values in leadership is to provide the
conditions where the students,or anyone, can grow to their
fullest potential.
One of the quotes I really likefrom Sir Ken Robinson said,
"You cannot predict the outcomeof human development.
All you can do is, like afarmer, create the conditions
(11:39):
under which it will begin toflourish.
I carry that quote with me allthe time because I reflect on my
own journey as a learner, as anew immigrant, as a professional
.
If I wasn't given the conditionto learn and the opportunity to
practice, then I won't bereaching my fullest potential.
(12:02):
With that in mind, I aspire tocreate a condition in my school
where the students are given thecondition, the opportunity, so
that they can reach theirpotential, specifically at the
high school campus.
I think I say this many timeswith my staff, what makes a high
school campus different from aK–8 or TK–8?
(12:25):
Two things in high school thatare different.
Number one is activities andthe second one is athletics.
Those are not everything forthe students in high school, but
it is a motivation to get themto come to the school and to
enjoy the high school life.
With all these activities thestudents will be given a chance
(12:47):
to do leadership, to learn aboutsome activities that they can
explore to reach their potential.
Many other things that we do onthe high school campus and
other campuses also do isexploring college and career.
However, with the high school,college and career is going
(13:07):
along with the interests ofathletics and activities and
with all of this work togetheras we work together, that's the
condition that we create for thestudents to get up early in the
morning to do some service.
While doing these services inthe school, they would learn a
career and a job and explore thecollege options for themselves.
(13:28):
So those are the conditionsthat I would like to create and
me as a leader, I would like allmy leaders on our campus, from
athletics director to activities, to counselors, to higher ed to
know that I would do anythingto create conditions for them so
that they can also rise to thatfullest potential, to provide
(13:49):
our students the fullestpotential condition that they
have.
Bianca Barquin (13:53):
You really are doing that.
You are creating the conditionsfor success.
You're creating the conditionsfor students to actualize the
graduate profile.
Amazing.
So Century High School boasts amyriad of vibrant programs,
from the Teach Academy,E-Business Academy, Building
Trades to the cutting edgeeSports Lab.
(14:15):
Can you describe those programsfor our listeners and how do
you ensure each program not onlythrives independently but also
cohesively enriches the holisticCentury High School experience?
Nata Shin (14:29):
Thank you so much for highlighting the best programs
we have at Century High School.
Indeed, each of those programshave their own potential and the
finished line for their program.
So, for example, let's talkabout the Teach Academy.
Teach Academy has been atCentury High School for almost
three decades, almost since thebeginning when the school was
(14:51):
open.
Similarly with e-businessprogram, those academies provide
the students opportunity to notonly just explore the beginning
but also go to the finish lineon saying three years later,
what have they accomplished?
The newer programs, such asBuilding Trades, just helping
the students to start onexploring different trades in
(15:13):
this academy, from carpentry toelectricity to plumbing and many
more.
So some of the work still haveto be done with Building Trades
by providing more opportunitiesfor the outside partners to come
in, provide the finish linepathway for our students and
also the mentorship.
Our goal is to get our BuildingTrade students a license,
(15:37):
something that they can startout and get a job.
And you know, in many of thesetrades a student at 18 years old
with the license they can starta career and they can get paid
at the starting rate at $100,000just by 18 years old.
Last year we had one studentstarted with the plumbing and he
(16:00):
got a job right away and he'smaking it in life with a good
salary of $100,000 without anystudent loan.
The other program that we haveis the eSports program.
It's a beautiful facility.
We are still on the early agebecause eSports Lab just opened
three days and then the pandemichit, so we never had a chance
(16:22):
to actually see it in the waythat was intended to be.
And then, three years later now, after the pandemic, we have to
find out what we really want todo with this eSports Lab.
Recently we have a teacher whois awesome in his online profile
on gaming, amazing in coding.
So we know exactly where we areheading with eSports program
(16:45):
and our goal is to get thestudents inspired into
programming, gaming industry.
And there's many things that wecan do with it.
And you're right.
How do we make all of theseprograms cohesively work
together?
How do we create the conditionswhere the students can work
together and use all of theirskills to enhance the programs
(17:07):
that we have?
To be truthful, that is thework that yet to come.
Some of them are in earlier agethan the other.
The teacher academy, theeBusiness, are in full potential
, now how do we bring the otherones up to speed, but my number
one goal is that the students,once they enter a program, an
academy, they will get out ofthat program with a license and
(17:30):
with something tangible for themto start in life either it's a
career or a college.
And how do we use one skillsetto with another in order to make
this work?
That's going to be our work tocome.
I would like to be invited backin two years later and I will
share with you some of theoutcome that we have.
Bianca Barquin (17:48):
I am excited.
Consider that a formalinvitation.
We'd love to have you back.
Now, I know this is a uniqueyear for Century High School
because there is constructionhappening at Villa Intermediate
School, right, Villa Fundamental.
You now have eighth gradestudents on campus.
So my question for you is withthe integration of eighth grade
(18:09):
students from Villa FundamentalIntermediate School this year,
how are you and your teamensuring that this unique blend
of educational stages is bothharmonious and mutually
enriching for all studentsinvolved?
Nata Shin (18:24):
First of all, thank you, Cabinet and the District,
for this approval for eighthgraders from Villa Intermediate
to be on our campus.
It's an opportunity for CenturyHigh School to show the
community, other than ourselves,of how amazing the school is,
how we have different facilitiesand also programs that are
(18:44):
unique in Santa Ana to offer toour students.
I am a professional in SantaAna Unified for almost 20 years,
so to me, the students at Villa, the students at Valley, the
students at Carr, none of thosestudents are anyone's students.
They are all my students andhaving them on our campus is an
opportunity for us.
(19:05):
We invite them and theirparents many of our events on
campus and remember I shared,like the only, what's the only
difference between K-8 and highschool?
It's activities and it'sathletics.
All of our students, eighthgraders, their parents, their
teachers, are always welcome toall of our activities.
(19:25):
We invited them to our assembly, we invited them to our
back-to-school night, to ourfootball games, to every single
event that we have.
Eventually, I would say aroundearly January, we're going to be
working with their counselorsand our counselors to make the
smooth transition from theeighth grade to ninth grade,
with master schedule, withenrollment and registration.
(19:48):
I love working with ourstudents and parents, especially
in that neighborhood.
Now the Villa students andparents don't see us as another
high school.
They feel us, this is ourcommunity.
I remember when the principal,John Bennett, at Villa, invited
their parents to meet me and Ishared with them:
(20:08):
If I were you, I would beextremely happy for the fact
that eighth graders are onCentury campus.
The reason is not only you haveone amazing principal to watch
out for your kid, you have two,and in a way I was kind of
complimenting myself as aprincipal of Century, but I
think it's just a fact that theydon't recognize.
And I said instead of havingtwo counselors for your eighth
(20:31):
grade students, we have sixcounselors here.
We're all one big family.
Instead of having just oneassistant principal, we have
four more, and so we are a bigone family.
And many of us Villla studentshave their older siblings
already on campus, already analumni at Century.
So it's just one year earlierand I wanted them to meet me.
(20:53):
Not only they have one wellnesscenter at their school, now
they have another one at mycampus as well, and now it's
really nice to see how eighthgraders and also the teachers
are using our state of the artlibrary on a daily basis, when
they have meetings, when theyhave collaborations or anything
like that.
We open our campus to all ofthem because we all want big
(21:14):
SAUSD family.
Bianca Barquin (21:16):
I love the inclusivity, I love the
collaboration, and the fact thatyou have future Centurions on
your campus is pretty amazing.
Can you share a recent successstory from Century High School
that embodies the spirit andobjectives of your leadership in
the school's mission?
Nata Shin (21:36):
I would say one of the things that I enjoy the most
is building capacity on ourcampus.
The pandemic has allowed someof our teachers and experts on
our campus, leaders on ourcampus, retired in the past few
years.
It's been a challenge in manycapacities, but I have worked
very closely with almost everysingle aspect in the school to
(22:00):
build up people, provide peoplethe conditions and also the
opportunity to be the leaderthat they didn't think they were
, for example, master schedule.
That is something that I reallylove, clearly, and when I was
at Century High School, noteveryone knew how to build a
master schedule.
Now we have about fivecounselors who know exactly
(22:21):
what's going on and we can talkmaster schedule all day because
we do have the capacity in theschool.
As a principal, at some pointyou get to spend more time with
the leaders on campus thanbuilding up the students because
you don't get to see thestudent on a daily basis of one
hour a day with their schedule.
So at this moment, I would sayone of my biggest success is to
(22:45):
build capacity in our schoolfrom the student services aspect
to athletics, to activities andthe last one is counseling, and
I'm super proud of the workthat we have done up to this
point, but we also have a lot ofwork to do, because one of
these days I want everyone inSanta Ana to say Century is the
(23:06):
best school, the best highschool we have in Santa Ana and
everyone would flock over andsay let's go to Century instead.
Bianca Barquin (23:13):
I love it.
So, speaking of buildingcapacity, the mentorship pathway
at Century High School is anotable aspect.
How has this been crafted toensure students not only receive
guidance but also learn theintrinsic values of being
positive mentors themselves?
Nata Shin (23:33):
One of the things that I love from the very
beginning of my days at Centuryis we have the greatest parents
who are our students' firstteachers, who show the students
the beauty of hard work, thebeauty of service, and I think
many of our students came inwith that innate ability that
(23:54):
we're going to be working hard.
And the lessons that we providethrough the classrooms, through
math, through English, theactivities that we do through
ASB and the Teach Academy, isall around service.
Working hard is one of theaspects that our students do the
best.
(24:14):
We want to transform that, theworking hard part from the
physical hard into mentally hard, physically hard, of course,
and academically hard.
Through multiple programs thatwe have, such as the eSports,
the Building Trades, theeBusiness Academy, the Teach
Academy, you can see that we aresurfacing and building on the
(24:37):
students' intrinsic motivationalready with hard work.
You can find it superchallenging when you learn how
to do programming and doesn'tget that bug to go away in
eSports lab.
You can work super hard and tryto make sure all these numbers
add up in eBusiness and, ofcourse, when you want to build a
toolbox, Building Trades willgive you some physical hard work
(25:00):
challenge right there.
And another hard work is how dowe build the next capacity,
which is teaching and ourstudents, especially in the
TeachAcademy, they would go every day
to the local elementary toprovide the tutoring for our
students in elementary, and oneof the things that I love the
most is the service in CenturyHigh School.
(25:23):
I want to share with you onecool story.
At Century we have this thingcalled the Giving Tree, and many
of our students wanted tocollect some gift from our
teachers or friends and bring itback to some of the elementary,
such as Kennedy, Jefferson andMadison, and to provide a gift
(25:43):
to the students who are in needthe most during Christmas time,
and to me it's just a regularstory.
However, if you think closely,our students don't have a lot,
but they give everything theyhave and more to someone who
they deem more needed, and thatis the kindness and the
intrinsic motivation that theyhave just to give more, to be of
(26:06):
a service to people.
And let's just work hard, useour labor to help another family
, help another kid have ahappier moment or have a happier
Christmas, and I think that isa great motivation and that's a
lesson that I'm sure they learnvery well from their own parents
and we just have to build on itby providing different
(26:27):
academies, different academicprograms, so that they can use
that intrinsic motivation intosomething that can deem into the
GPA and that will get them togo further in life, such as
college, and be more successfulin that area, so they can give
more and provide more, becausethat's what they want to do for
our community.
Bianca Barquin (26:49):
So there's a couple of things that you've
said that are super compellingfor me.
One is recognizing parents asthe primary educators of their
children.
That is a beautiful partnership.
Two, you talked about serviceand being of service and giving
back to the community and thoselessons that are learned for our
(27:09):
students.
That's actually one of thecharacteristics of the graduate
profile, and those examples thatyou shared actually exemplify
actualization of our GraduateProfile.
Beautiful.
Nata, as you gaze into thefuture, what aspirations do you
hold for Century High and how doyou envision navigating the
(27:30):
journey towards these goalsalongside your dedicated team?
Nata Shin (27:35):
Like, I am a professional product of SAUSD.
I have heard stories aboutdifferent schools.
I have gone to about sevendifferent campuses in Santa Ana
Unified.
Each campus has something thatthe community really loves and I
would like to build CenturyHigh School as a campus that
everyone wants to send theirchildren to.
(27:56):
It's a campus where we producestudents as a whole, the
students who intrinsicallyalready care for others with
empathy, and we want to providethem the pathway so they can
build their academic and collegeand career success.
The one thing that I want towork with my team is to have
(28:16):
them have the same ambition asme, so that we, with that
ambition, we can work, we havepatience for one another, we
teach each other and we buildcapacity for one another so each
one of us can achieve thatvision.
And my hope is one of these daysour parents say look at Century
High School.
I like to send my kids therebecause this is a school that
(28:39):
not only provides opportunitiesbut also the environment where
my students will growacademically, physically and
mentally, and they have the mostbeautiful hearts because of the
school.
With all of that, I'd like toinvite all of our parents and
the community of Santa AnaUnified and beyond, to come and
(29:00):
share some of those moments withus.
We are at the early age wherewe are building, we are working
on all of those capacities.
We want to share our programs.
We are working to fine tune ourcraft every day.
It's still a work in progress,but we have a tremendous group
of people who are there everyday, working tirelessly, trying
(29:23):
to build it the way we wouldlike to see it one day.
Bianca Barquin (29:26):
I think you're well on your way to doing that,
and you do have a beautifulcommunity, and I'm sure folks
are going to take you up on youroffer.
So, Nata, what's a personalstory or perhaps a little-known
fact that you'd like to sharewith our listeners today, so
they know how much you love andbelieve in what you're doing at
(29:48):
Century High School?
Nata Shin (29:50):
Thank you for this question.
I think one of the fun factsthat our Century community knows
is that I have only one childand I do send my own child to my
own school.
I have many other principlesfrom elsewhere and say, hey,
send your kid to my schoolbecause I know she can achieve,
but I'm like, no, that's not thereason I would like to bring my
(30:11):
own daughter to school, to myown school, because I do believe
in the work that I do, I dotrust the work that our teachers
and the staff do in our schooland I love this community.
One other thing that I reallylike about Century High School
and I don't think you can findit in any books or academics is
the empathy.
(30:32):
One of the quotes that I learnedfrom Brené Brown in a book Dare
to Lead is she said somethingaround the line of in the past
jobs were about muscles, nowthey are about brains, but in
the future they are about theheart.
And as the heart is the empathy,the ability to love, to
(30:55):
empathize and use that empathyand the heart that you have to
lead in any capacity that youhave, and of course the skills
come with it, but the empathy isthe root of the motivation and
the inspiration to for oneperson to achieve more.
One of the things that I likefrom that book is for every
(31:16):
Christmas, I post this one on mysocial media all the time and I
know my my Century familiesknow that I'm always on social
media every night at the end ofthe day.
One of the quotes that I likeis Brené Brown said, "wishing
you a heart open enough to staycurious, strong enough to face
(31:37):
pain and brave enough to feeljoy, and it's all about empathy.
So I hope everyone have a niceevening if you listen to this
end of the evening and wish youwith a heart that is open for
every emotion and empathy andlove toward one another and in
your community and your family.
Bianca Barquin (31:59):
Beautiful.
Thank you for sharing thatstory with us, Nata.
Before we sign off, it's timefor our Amplifier
Acknowledgement segment.
Nata, if you could amplify themessage or lesson of one
educator or leader who's made asignificant impact in your
journey, who would it be andwhat is that resonating message?
Nata Shin (32:22):
That's a tough question to narrow it down to
one person.
I have grown up here in SantaAna Unified as a professional
for 19 years.
Each stage of life that I havegone through in different school
sites, I am so blessed and verylucky to have one person that
always there to help me grow andto identify some areas that I'm
(32:43):
very strong in and how to workon my strength.
I would start out with thefirst teacher that I had, who
now is also an athleticsdirector at Godinez.
His name is Bill Snyder.
He taught me how to teach math.
I taught myself and I nevertaught students, but he was the
first one.
The one that opened the door forme into leadership is Ed Winch
(33:06):
ester.
He's retired by now.
The one that taught me so muchabout curriculum instruction,
how to be a strong woman, wasMichelle Rodriguez.
The one that took a chance onme as a leader, as an assistant
principal, was Adrian Ayala.
The one that say you use toomuch math in discipline and
(33:28):
traffic and active shooterdrills, let's move you into
counseling.
Now you get both.
That was Duncan McCulloch.
And finally, my latest promotionis to become a principal and I
would like to thank Jerry andLorraine for trusting me with
this very big job and for givingme the opportunity and the
(33:52):
conditions where I can explore,where I can use my expertise and
passion and put it into workfor the community that I love
dearly.
So thank you to all of thoseleaders and mentors in my life.
I know I have a lot more peopleto be thankful for, but those
are the ones that have helped me, open the door and just trust
(34:13):
me with their heart, with thepositions that I held.
So thank you so much for youand for the opportunities that
you have given me.
Bianca Barquin (34:22):
What powerful acknowledgments.
Nata, your journey is atestament to the extraordinary
impact one can carve throughdedication, empathy and a
resilient belief in thepotential of every student.
To our devoted listeners, wehope that the stories and
insights shared today resonatewith you, igniting sparks of
(34:42):
inspiration and painting a richtapestry of what compassionate
leadership coupled withinnovative approaches in
education can truly unfold.
Nata's commitment not to justlead but to uplift, inspire and
forge pathways of possibilitiesnot only illuminates the halls
of Century High School but alsolightens the path for leaders in
(35:05):
every capacity to think beyondthe conventional and to act with
heart, wisdom and unwaveringfaith in the capacities of those
they lead.
I'm Bianca Barquin, and this isSAUSD's Amplifying Leadership,
where every voice, story andpassionate heart finds a stage
to inspire.
Thank you for joining us anduntil next time, keep amplifying
(35:29):
.
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