Day 55: Missy Lee
“… what drives me even stronger is this community, that they pull together. And if you’ve got a community that pulls together for kids, you’ve got a lot. You’ve got a heart beating for children and our foundation.”
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Toni Reece: I want to thank you so much, Missy, for being patient with us here at the Project and also agreeing to give up your time to be interviewed today. And before we begin with the questions, can you please introduce yourself?
Missy Lee: Certainly. My name is Missy Lee. I’m from Columbia Heights, and I am the school board chair in Columbia Heights School District 13.
Toni: Okay, fantastic! In the work that you do, Missy, or even personally when you work with others, who do think that you might inspire, and how do you think that happens?
Missy: Well, inspire is a wonderful word. I think that, and I hope that, as I sit on a Board of Education, that I would inspire children and community. As I work, one of my things that I do is try to achieve higher education in a K-12 or early childhood up to senior high education process. So I would hope that I would inspire mainly young people, and I think that I do on a professional level. But on a personal level my inspiration, I would say, is that I think I inspire my children and their friends and the young people that come through my home.
Toni: When you think about that with family, the community that you are serving, your friends and so forth, how do you think that happens? How do you think that inspiration happens with them?
Missy: You know, I think it’s because you set your goals and you set your sights and then you share. I have three beautiful children that have gone through the Columbia Heights school system, and with that I have many that come through my home, many of the young people, and some of the fun things that we do is we sit and we have conversation. And conversation leads to education and knowledge. So these kids come through and, as I do my work, I learn more because kids have this wonderful mind. It’s so wonderful to hear their ideas and to listen to what they have to say and what they want.
We as a community did a youth summit this last summer, and some of the things that they interviewed with young people was what they want adults to do is hear them, to listen to them. And when you listen to a child, you inspire them to understand that you have respect for them and that you acknowledge them and their value; and you validate who they are, what they are, where they come from.
This community is incredible. I mean, I hope I inspire my community in some of the things I do. We’ve gone through so many … this is a little diamond in the rough. We’re a small school on the outskirts of a big metropolitan city, so we’ve got so many different young people that come through our school system that the knowledge and the things that they have to offer this community is wonderful. So they inspire me, and I hope that I inspire them.
Toni: When you’re creating this safe haven, actually, for the community and for your children and the friends that pass through your home — that’s what I’m hearing — how do you think doing that, Missy, helps them to explore their own potential?
Missy: I think that when you sit and you listen — at least from what I’m hearing from the young people — is that when you sit and you listen, when they are able to express themselves, they are able to take that somewhere. They share it then themselves. They hear their own words coming back to them. And I think, Toni — I told you this once before when we chatted — that on Sunday mornings, it’s Sunday with Missy. And a lot of my daughter’s friends will come, and we’ll sit in the living room and we’ll just chat about everything from education to politics to the community at large or what their expectations are for education and where do they need to go to get whatever they need to do. Their paperwork, for instance, to go to college; or how do they approach their boyfriend on a situation; or how do I talk to him or her, whatever.
So it’s really … you know, they just want to be validated. People want to be validated. Your community needs to be validated and listened to, and as you do it as a leader, as a leader in my district, I believe that I’m very approachable. I’m very willing to listen to people and their ideas – good, bad, and indifferent. You just have to be able to have an open mind and open heart and really have a passion for what you do. And one of the things that I have been told about myself is that my passion is what drives me, and my passion is young people in my community.
Toni: Well, that leads us very nicely into the question about you. And when you think about inspiration just on what you need, on the things that you seek to keep inspired and to be inspired, what do you look for? What do you need to stay inspired?
Missy: I need the people that are surrounding me. My children. My children’s friends. My coworkers. The community that I sit in. I can’t talk strongly enough about this community and how it is one of the nicest places to be, I feel. I love Columbia Heights. I can walk down the street, and I can see people that I know, and I can stop and have a conversation and I can get ideas, and I can bring them back. It seems that nothing in this community is all that negative when you sit down and you talk.
I mean, we have a population of 75% senior citizens who continually pass referendums because they want education for children; that’s inspiring to me. When people are on fixed incomes and still willing and wanting to help kids, that says everything to me that I’m doing something right, that I’m following a path that I can help people. Education is everything to me, so when I walk into that school system, and I walk down the halls and I see these faces of all these kids, right there I know I’m doing the right thing.
The other thing that I get inspired incredibly at the end of every year in June, is what we strive to — as a board — to make sure that all kids get educated, that all kids have the ability to have what they need to make a better life, because they are our foundation. They are our future lives as I said as I grow older. But every June I get to walk out before the class of that year, and I get to sit on that stage and I watch those kids with the biggest smiles in the world walk across that stage and take their diploma and know that they are entering into a world, that they have been well educated, that we have done the best that we can with what we have, and that they are moving on and they are the best of the best. And that to me is incredible. I mean, that is amazing to me.
And the community is there; we have people that escort these kids out after their graduation and the whole community comes for this. They come, and they watch out their doors, and it’s just an amazing thing in the city, because I think we all hold tight to our kids and they are our foundation and that is what really and truly, every year, that’s a big thing for me. That’s just one of the best things. My daughter just graduated last year, in fact, so I was able to — as a board member or the board chair — I was able to sign her diploma. And I was able to hand my daughter her diploma as she walked across the stage, and there was no bigger honor that I’ve had. I’m very humbled for the position that I hold within this community.
Toni: That just comes through so loud and clear, and your passion for the community; there’s no denial of that within this interview at all – it is dripping of passion. I ask you then, with that sense of community that you need and work on — and I would imagine fight for that sense of community that inspires you and keeps you inspired — when you are doing that type of work or experiencing that highest level of inspiration, how does that then translate for you to continuously explore your own potential? Does that drive your potential?
Missy: Well, yes, I think it does. I think the things that I go forward as I watch these kids and as I watch, like I say, the kids walk across the stage, and I know the next year is another group coming through. And of course we’ve got early childhood through 12. What drives me is then the idea of how are we going to continue this? In economic times, you know, we are in difficult times, so where are we going to continue these educations? Where are we going to get better programs? How are we going to do this?
And so, for me, it just gives me a sense of knowing that I always have to do better. I always want to work stronger with, whether it be the staff, the administration, with community to get more knowledge for myself, to be able to communicate better with the community, to make them understand what we need for our kids – which isn’t a hard task in this community. So that drives me to continue.
Some of the things also that we do in this community is we have academic scholarships, and our community comes forward and gives anywhere from $130,000 in scholarships to up to $160,000 in scholarships. I mean, it can vary, but they are all community members, alumni, business owners. People are constantly working to make education better in this community. The city has worked with us. The city of Columbia Heights has collaborated with us to bring gymnasiums together so these kids can have places to go.
So, that drives me; I’m continually taking a step after a step after a step to make sure that we have better buildings, better programs, continuing our grant programs. We’ve been acknowledged by VH1 grants. So all of that stuff blends together, I guess, and so it makes me realize that, number one, we’re doing an okay job. I’m doing an okay job, the Board of Education is doing an okay job, and what drives me even stronger is this community, that they pull together. And if you’ve got a community that pulls together for kids, you’ve got a lot. You’ve got a heart beating for children and our foundation.
Toni: I absolutely love that phrase, that there’s a heart beating for the children. And you can absolutely see the correlation between how you stay inspired to explore your own potential, how that translates into your own family, how passionate you are by creating … It almost seems and hears to me that you create this trusted community environment within your own home and that spreads out onto a board, onto a school district, onto a community and a neighborhood, and that you’re inspired by that and that translates and moves into inspiring others. That’s what I took away from this interview and that you’re a very passionate woman about keeping that community safe and sound and keeping the standards high so that you can do what you need to do.
Missy: What I always end with, and I will tell you, Toni, is that it’s all about the kids. Our whole life that we live, if we bring them into the world as we educate them, they are what we are going to be relying on. And when you look at it in that sense, when you look at the fact that funding for education is so important and all of the community buildup to kids, no matter who they are, no matter where they come from, it doesn’t matter; they’re here … they’re ours … educate them. It’s all about the kids, and no matter what you do in the position that, as I said, the prize is the child.
Toni: You have absolutely shared such wonderful insight into that, and actually beefed up the definition of the word community and taking care of those within it, especially the children in a way in this interview that so many people are going to learn from and can benefit by, and hopefully can look around their own communities to see the same results or to work towards those results. And so for you giving that kind of time today and the learning and benefits and values you’ve given, we at the Get Inspired! Project thank you so very, very much for being part of this.
Missy: Well, Toni, I appreciate it. It’s been a pleasure talking to you, and I’ve enjoyed it thoroughly. And to be honest with you, it’s just who I am and what I am. And I hope people do look back into their community and just take their kids and smile at them; if you can’t touch them, just smile with your eyes and let them know that you’re there.
Toni: Thank you so very much , Missy. Please take care of yourself and I hope that we connect again soon.
Missy: I hope so, too. Take care and thank you very much for taking the time on this project. I think it’s wonderful to read everything that people are doing.
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