Jenn True, 爱默生小学 Principal and University of Nebraska at Kearney graduate was recently awarded the 2022 Outstanding New Principal of the Year Award from the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

While this award proves she has led her building with excellence, being a principal wasn’t always the career path True had in mind. 

“I always had the concern that I wouldn’t want to become a principal because I would miss teaching. I thought I would miss the relationship with kids and having my own classroom,” admits True. “But when you become a principal, you get to do all those things but on a larger scale. 你可以看到孩子们从幼儿园到五年级。 你可以和老师建立关系。 It’s just as good as being a teacher but better. I feel like those relationships are that much stronger and I feel like 太阳城娱乐官网 did a great job of preparing me for that journey.” 

True first graduated from 太阳城娱乐官网 in 2007 with her bachelor’s degree in 幼儿统一，基础教育. Then again in 2012 with her master’s in 阅读PK-12硕士教育。 and finally in 2018 received her 幼儿园-8年级校长 endorsement.  

“I really enjoyed my undergraduate, so when I got my master’s, I already knew a lot of the professors,” True said. “It was also all online, which was nice. 作为一名新老师和新妈妈，我可以在不需要亲自去的情况下完成所有这些，这很棒。 When I got my principal endorsement, I never thought about going anywhere else.” 

真实的状态，她的教育和教授在太阳城娱乐官网都准备她作为一个小学校长的日常生活。  

“For my principalship, I ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. 这一切都非常适用于我的角色，即使是作为一名教师。 It wasn’t a lot of fluff. 我真的觉得我学到的东西会在我未来的校长角色中用到。 It was just all very applicable to what I am doing now,” True said. 

To complete 太阳城娱乐官网’s School Principalship, PreK-8 or 7-12 Master’s Degree, Specialist Degree, or non-degree endorsement, a student must complete an 80-hour internship with a school to observe administrative professionals. True说，这种体验式学习和课程作业一样重要，因为它可以让你建立自己的职业网络。 

“It was a great experience to get into the schools and get to know principals and get to see the behind-the-scenes part of being a principal that you wouldn’t have seen in a textbook or in class,” True said. “What’s cool is, the professors I worked with, I still have those relationships. So, we do a lot of partnering with 太阳城娱乐官网 here at Emerson.” 

在林肯，太阳城娱乐官网学校管理委员会举行的国家校长会议颁奖宴会上，True被授予2022年度杰出新校长奖。 True将其描述为一种有趣、令人兴奋和谦卑的体验。 

“When I accepted it, I was standing in a room with lots of principals that I admire,” True said. “To stand up and accept something that is very honorable was just very humbling because I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people who influenced me.”