𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐂𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐌𝐄!

(𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑) 𝙱𝚢 𝚁𝚊𝚢𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚍 𝙻. 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚛𝚘 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚃𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙸, 𝙼𝚊𝚋𝚞𝚑𝚊𝚢 𝙽𝙷𝚂 𝙰𝚐𝚞𝚜𝚊𝚗 𝚍𝚎𝚕 𝚂𝚞𝚛 𝙳𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 “𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯” - 𝘙𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘢 𝐌𝐲 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: I first thought that becoming a school head must be an opportunity not given to everybody. Though I also thought it required lots of hard work, connection, and sacrifices, it all boils down to the choice of the appointing authority. Well, there is more to being a school head than I initially thought. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠: My own journey to becoming a school head started with a rigorous screening process with more than a hundred applicants. As the selection process got tougher, only a handful of qualified applicants were left, including me. Thus, on October 7, 2020, I began to lead and manage a school in a remote area of the Municipality of Talacogon, Agusan del Sur. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: The first few weeks were about knowing the stakeholders, getting oriented with the school setting, familiarizing myself with school processes and backgrounds, and connecting with potential partners. Since it was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we implemented "New Normal" learning modalities, conducted or participated in webinars, and many other activities that sprouted like mushrooms. In addition, there were different call-ups, meetings, conferences, in-service training, added workloads, and voluminous reports to submit, many of which were new to me. I was shocked, drowned, and drained, or so I felt. But I did not stop. I willingly embraced the new nature of my work. I learned to meet and mingle with people, including those who coached me to become a better leader. I started communicating with the LGU officials, and it widened my perspective. I challenged myself to venture into a new battleground to lead the school toward its desired height of success. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Then I realized being a school head is not easy because, as other school heads had told me, it demands more than competence, character, and credentials. Thus, Robin Sharma comes to mind. Indeed, leadership is not about a title or a designation but about impact, influence, and inspiration. In other words, it is not about who I am or what I have done as a school head but what my school community will become because of me. 🅴🅽🅳 NB. 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍, 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒔, 𝒏𝒆𝒘𝒔, 𝒇𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒎𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝑫𝒆𝒑𝑬𝒅 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒂’𝒔 𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒆𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒆𝒔. 𝑨𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒂𝒕 (𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔) 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒂𝒈𝒆 (𝑷𝑴) 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒍 𝒂𝒕 𝗽𝗮𝘂_𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗮@𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗱.𝗴𝗼𝘃.𝗽𝗵