Having started her Mehlville Journey as a substitute for assistant principals Abby Makowsky and Katie Hardrick during leadership meetings, the newest addition to MHS’s team, Sarah Gray spoke with Mehlville Media about her passion for teaching.
“This is my twenty-first year in education, and I’ve always had a love for helping students and teachers find success, and supporting families,” Gray explains, “…I instantly fell in love with Mehlville High, the community, and everything involved, and I just knew I wanted to be a part of it.”
Gray praises Mehlville’s kindly environment, crediting it as the reason she joined the staff.
“I felt like as soon as I walked in, I was acknowledged with a small hello, a greeting, and a welcome to Mehlville. Then, equally, when I would walk around to classrooms, I would see teachers excited about teaching, and students engaged in learning. That is definitely an environment that I want to be a part of, because I share those values as an educator. I want to be a lifelong learner, and I want to support people to be excited about learning, and learning life skills along the way.”
Gray’s hope when taking an administrative position is to make an impact. She highlights how Mehlville has made that goal possible.
“Positions I’ve had in the past have had lots of layers that I work through each day. This one has more layers, but, I think, in a positive way. I feel like with the layers that I work through to help students, teachers, and parents– I always include them– and families, I’m making a difference. In other positions, I know I made a difference, I just didn’t see it as much. Even though we’re still early on, I’m hoping that I’m this bright light at Mehlville, and a great addition to the already amazing admin team.”
During her time here, Gray would like to focus on creating a constructive relationship with everyone involved in all levels of the Mehlville community.
“My goal is to build a positive relationship with all: students, teachers, parents. Letting them know that I truly am a supporter of a positive education… one that involves academics, but also real world skills. That is definitely goal number one. Goal number two is helping students gain success in whatever way that looks like… everybody’s path might look a little different to success, but we can all find it.”
One way Gray has been able to help students feel successful is through thoughtful interactions.
“I try to be very intentional in my conversations with students; ask how their day is, if they tell me something, I try to bounce off on a personal note. The other day, I was subbing for a teacher during AT1, and overheard a group of students talking about racing. Well, my personal background is that my husband and I drag race on the weekend, so I understood. I’ve been in the racing environment. So, I just intentionally walked over and said ‘hey, I was kind of eavesdropping, and I know what you’re talking about…’ I really try to be a great listener in conversations, and if there’s a personal note that a student makes, that I have a connection to, I try to make that personal connection so they know I’m real.”
Gray says she uses her experiences during weekend races to further her ability to relate to those who may be different from her.
“The two environments [drag racing and teaching] really work together. What I mean by that is that the people from the racetrack come from all different walks of life; lots of diversity, lots of life experiences. So, having that exposure on the weekend, of the racetrack, makes me a better me, here. When I come here, I feel like we have lots of diversity, which I love, and culture, so I feel like by personally being involved in a racing environment, it makes me better for you all in my professional environment.”
It’s Gray’s hope that as the year goes on, she can continue to not only teach students, but learn from them as well. Her genuine desire to listen and provide a helping hand to others make her a fitting addition to Mehlville’s staff.
