Why I chose Education… Why I chose Urban Education!
My name is David Grathwohl, Associate Principal of NCH Middle School.
Even as a Principal, I see myself as a lifelong educator. Education is one of the toughest and most critical careers in this day and age, especially when working with at-risk students who are living in poverty.
Every morning, we as educators, wake up and take on the task of shaping the leaders of tomorrow. To combat these daily challenges you must be fierce and resilient; you have to be truly in tune with your “Why.”
My “Why” is directly related to my own life experiences.
As a young African American male I struggled to cope with identifying a consistent father figure who could teach me how to become a man. Now that I reflect on my upbringing, I can see that I made a lot of choices that could have cost me either my freedom, or my life. I found myself countering this deficit by dreaming up a father.
In education, I can see my own struggles through the lives of my students, and I feel that part of my purpose is to present myself as a role model and “father figure” for every student in need.
As the African Proverb states, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and that village starts in our Public Schools.