As a child, Stephanie Mitchell’s father would take her down to classes at the Art Institute of Chicago on weekends. She missed the Saturday morning cartoons most kids were watching.
That experience fostered creativity and helped Mitchell take an imaginative approach to solving problems she has employed throughout her teaching career.
Now as the newly hired principal at Bailey Lake Elementary, Mitchell brings her passion and lifelong experience with education to Clarkston.
‘My father taught high school and his 5 siblings taught a wide range of subjects at some point, whether it was home economics or P.E. It was wonderful, my father was a teacher and I couldn’t get away with anything,? she said.
Mitchell spent two years as an art major at the University of Illinois before moving to Boulder, Colorado where she married and had two sons Alex and Josh McLeod.
‘I returned to the Midwest to raise my children and be closer to my family, while having access to my summer home in southwest Michigan,? said Mitchell.
After running a state-licensed day care in her home for four years, Mitchell returned to school at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois graduating in 1996 with a double major in elementary education and art.
Mitchell’s teaching experience began in the western suburbs of Chicago until she eventually turned to the inner cities, teaching underprivileged children in the Chicago Public Schools where she taught 5th and 7th grades.
Teaching in impoverished areas was rewarding as she saw children either involved with gangs or affected by gang violence and poverty enjoy staying after school to read or strive for improved test scores she said.
During this time Mitchell developed an integrated arts and technology program with the help of Americore Volunteers in conjunction with Northwestern University’s Vittum Theater. This program worked to help students improve reading comprehension and technology skills.
After teaching in Chicago, Mitchell accepted her fist administrative job as an assistant elementary principal in East Aurora Illinois, where she also served as the building coordinator of a three-year comprehensive school reform in a largely minority district.
Mitchell then served as a principal of an elementary school in Burr Ridge Illinois, an affluent, diverse district in the southwestern suburbs.
She also earned a master’s degree from the University of Illinois in educational leadership and earned her Ed.S. from National Louis University.
Now as she focuses on her new job, serving as principal at Bailey Lake Elementary excites Mitchell.
‘I’m honored to have the privilege to serve the community and to serve the children and families of the community,? said Mitchell.
‘People have embraced me and welcomed me whole-heartedly and I plan to do the same.?
Mitchell said she is a protector of instructional time and constantly ‘thinks outside the box? with a focus on meeting the individual needs of students.
‘I’m very lucky to have chosen a career I’m passionate about. It doesn’t take much to mentally prepare in the morning because I’m where I want to be,? she said.