Transcript
What inspires you from WFSU Public Media? Here's this week's Voices That Inspire. My name is Carmen Conner. I'm the Principal of Pineview Elementary School. This is my 22nd year in education. I started out as a classroom teacher for 14 years and an assistant principal for seven years. And this is my first year and one day as a principal at Pineview. Recently, we had a report card night. I just happened to be walking into a classroom just to check on every classroom. And there's a student and his mother. And I over here, the mom say, yeah, he really likes Florida State and he wants to grow up and be a football player one day. And he's one of our most challenging students at school. And I said, oh, you're into FSU football. I didn't know. I say to him, you know, we can arrange to have a visit. That would be really fun. Would you like to do that? He said, yes, I said, well, you have to do your part. You have to give him more effort. You have to finish your work. You know, I'm giving him all these things. And he said, okay. And so he ended with, well, can I take some of my friends with me? And I said, well, I'll think about it. You do your part. I'll think about it. It took one phone call to a professor at FSU. We arranged a whole college tour, not just for him and his friends before the entire fourth grade. And we went on a tour at the athletic center. The kids ran on the field. We walked across campus, sat in the lecture hall. And we ended the day in which was a lovely ending right in front of Westcott. President Thrasher came out to greet the children. I know that lives were changed because now they saw something. And that was the whole point behind it. I need you to see it in order for you to believe that you can achieve it one day. They just had to see it. And for that, those fourth graders saw that this is a possibility one day. A wonderful experience from an accidental conversation that I overheard. My name is Carmen Conner. I'm the principal of Pineville Elementary School. You're listening to voices that inspire.