Sixth-Grade Honor Student Szcerba Serves as 'Principal for a Day' at Martinez

The following article was submitted by Valley View School District 365U:

Martinez Middle School’s Wiktoria Szcerba dreams of either being a principal or a university president someday.

Thanks to Martinez Principal Sarah DeDonato, the 6th grader got an up-close-and-personal look at what it’s like to be in charge of a middle school Monday, serving as “Principal for a Day.”

“I was showing Mrs. DeDonato the pasta menu for my band fundraiser and she asked me what I wanted my career to be,” Szcerba said. The next thing she knew, DeDonato was offering to let the honor student walk in her shoes for a day.

“She sure does a lot of things,” Szcerba said. “It shows me about all the hard work you need to do and all the confidence you need.”

While on duty Monday, she patrolled the hallways, observed teachers in two classrooms to make sure “they achieve proficient learning,” drew up agendas for meetings, and conducted a pre-observation.

“It’s a lot of meetings, a lot of paperwork and you can’t miss anything,” Szcerba observed. “But you have the teachers to interact with you. You have the secretaries to help you with a lot of things. And you have a computer to help you.

“Mrs. DeDonato does her job without missing a thing,” she added.

“It’s been a good experience for both of us, although she hasn’t had to answer any angry phone calls,” DeDonato said.