Lancer She Will Ever Be: Dr. Susan Leonard reflects her resignation as Associate Principal at East

Walking down the Columbia Blue halls on her first day as assistant principal in 2016, Dr. Susan Leonard lagged behind her new boss, then-principal Dr. John McKinney.

Coming fresh off a head principal position at the 300-student, private Pembroke Hill Middle School, Susan was not prepared for the confusion that came with maneuvering five different floors and almost 2,000 students.

Turning back in the direction of the office, John said, “Now, we’re obviously back at the main office.” But a confused Susan turned the wrong way and bumped into him.

Awkwardness plagued Susan as she realized she practically hugged her new boss on her first day on the job — definitely not how Susan wanted to start her career at East.

But after eight years of successfully finding the main office every day and working to create a sense of community at East through her positive attitude and establishing the Women in Leadership club, Susan has decided to leave East to pursue a new job — potentially outside of education. 

Susan is still unsure of what her next job will be, but she is considering jobs at the college level or involving nonprofits to continue her motto of doing work that she is passionate about — the same passion that she has exerted during her time at East.

“I hope [students] would say that I believed in them, that maybe I saw something in them that they didn’t recognize themselves,” Susan said. “I hope I’ve been there to help them pick up the pieces when things aren’t going right. I used to tell people that I try to take kids on the down escalator and put them on the up escalator. I hope I put everyone on the up escalator.”

This is exactly what Susan has done during her years as a Lancer, according to fellow assistant principal Kristoffer Barikmo. When Kristoffer first met Susan on his first day seven years ago, they made an immediate connection through the fact they both taught social studies before taking on an administrative position.

“She’s a very welcoming person,” Kristoffer said. “I think one of her best strengths is that she is excited to get to know people, bring them on to the team and tell them about what it means to be a Lancer and what that means to her as a leader.” 

Coming to East as an instructional coach, Kristoffer has used Susan’s “wealth of experience” to guide him through his administrative responsibilities.

He eventually worked his way to being an assistant principal alongside Susan. As a new administrator, Kristoffer approached Susan with questions like “What are the parts that I’m missing?” or “What’s been your experience in this situation?”

“She offers collegial feedback, and I keep growing every time we have these conversations,” Kristoffer said.

Advice between coworkers is not the only way that Susan has impacted people — senior Ella Howard has been influenced by her words as well.

Since making friends with Susan’s daughter, senior Maggie Leonard, around 10 years ago, Ella has always been able to confide in Susan. Whether it’s a hang out at the Leonard’s household or watching Susan give a speech during the monthly Women in Leadership meeting — a club created to help empower female students by providing leadership opportunities — Ella has always felt safe at school with Susan’s positive presence.

“Anytime I see her in the hallway, I always talk to her,” Ella said. “There was one time I was having a bad day at school and I [went] to the bathroom and I saw Dr. Leonard in the hallway. She [talked] to me and gave me a hug. She’s always been someone that checks up on me, and checks up on all our friends.”

According to Ella, Susan co-founding the Women in Leadership club this year has given her a chance to reach even more students. As a female mentor, she helps lead each meeting and gives encouraging speeches about the importance of female leadership.

“She taught me to dream big, and she used to talk during Women in Leadership Club and say really cool pieces of advice,” Ella said. “She’s always been really good at giving advice, and I think she just taught me to dream big with goals and how to be there for other people.”

Maggie has noticed this attentiveness with her friends and fellow peers. Although she finds it hard to talk about school at the dining room table and runs the risk of running into her mom when she’s late for school, she understands the influence her mom makes on students every day.

“There are countless amounts of kids that she has spent so much time with and cares so much about that she constantly [works with], not just at work, but at home,” Maggie said. “There have been literally dozens of dozens of kids that she’s made huge impacts [on] and it’s really incredible to see how many lives she’s changed.”

Kristoffer, Ella and Maggie all believe Susan’s absence is going to be a “hard set of shoes to fill.” Kristoffer is hoping to find a way to preserve Susan’s positivity and sense of leadership in new ways — potentially through leadership councils and meetings — in order to accommodate for the “growing pains” the administration will face next year.

“I think one of her biggest impacts is the importance of connecting kids inside of our community — focusing on how we can build the student experience at ease,” Kristoffer said. “That’s a legacy that I’m going to hold on to as we go forward in our community because that focus on what that student experience is in high school is really formative for every person that walks through our building in any high school.”