RESOURCES:
Ypsilanti Community High School
TRANSCRIPTION:
Caroline MacGregor: You're listening to 89.1 WEMU. This is Black History Month, and we're here today to celebrate and reflect on Black achievement in the community. With me today is my guest, Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan. She's the principal of Ypsilanti Community High School. Welcome, Dr Harris-Hugan!
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: Thank you! And thank you for having me!
Caroline MacGregor: You have a track record of leadership excellence, and this has directly contributed to high school achievement on the part of your students. And it's also resulted in a lot of community support for you. Tell me a little bit about your journey, if you would.
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: Well, I started off trying to kind of figure out what I wanted to do when I was very young. My first goal was to be a teacher. And then, as you become older and more mature and learn about other careers, I kind of drifted. And when I graduated from high school was when it was kind of where the rubber meets the road, and I went into education. I think when I started teaching, I actually started in a kindergarten classroom many, many years ago, and that was my first teaching job. And the lessons and compassion and empathy and all those things, you really learn as an elementary and definitely a kindergarten teacher. And those experiences taught me a lot in how to deal with students and parents and community members. And some of those life lessons, I still make sure that I instill right now to this day. I was an elementary teacher for a number of years, went over to Plymouth-Canton, became a curriculum director for our ELA and social studies, moved on to Oak Park where I was the curriculum director. And now, here for YCS. And it's just the life lessons that I've learned along the way in my upbringing where my parents and still being compassionate and empathetic for others. And I'm just trying to walk in their shoes and treat people the way I want to be treated. My leadership and how I approach people, situations, and my staff right now, so just being a thoughtful, empathetic, compassionate leader.
Caroline MacGregor: You mentioned earlier that you knew you wanted to teach. As a little girl, was there somebody who inspired you? Was there something in your blood, so to speak, that you felt like you wanted to be a teacher one day?
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: So, it's funny that you say that. When I was younger and my dad was at Marygrove College finishing up his bachelor's degree and my mother had created like a small little office upstairs for him in our old house and I would go upstairs and lay out papers all over the floor, like I was actually a teacher because he had a desk in his room and would teach and just play pretend. So, when a lot of my friends were playing with dolls and having tea parties, I was actually teaching in my dad's classroom or his office. And so, I've always wanted to be a teacher. And then, as I got a little older and started learning about different careers, I kind of wavered a little bit. But then, when I graduated, it was like, "This is really what I want to do!"
Caroline MacGregor: Tell me what does Black History Month mean for you as an educator here in the Ypsilanti area.
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: Black History Month means, to me, looking back at people that have made contributions, and it doesn't always have to be notable people through history. It could be people in your neighborhood, people in your schools that have made contributions to instill that change and that desire to want to be a change agent. When I was about five, the very first project that I ever did with my mother was a Black History project where we learned about Martin Luther King. And I was about five, I think I was in kindergarten, and we did a whole big poster. We did reading and all these other things, so that my mother could kind of help me learn and present what we had created. And I actually won the first prize for my report and all of that. And it was that threshold that really propelled me into wanting to learn more about other people that had made contributions to our society to make it better. For me, Black history means what am I doing to positively represent my culture, who I am and the people that I serve and how am I instilling that desire to be a change agent for my students that sit before me and look like I do.
Caroline MacGregor: If you're just joining us, my guest today is Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan. She's the principal of Ypsilanti High School. And as an influential leader in the community, we are here today to honor Black History Month. Dr. Harris-Hugan, you mentioned Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Is there anybody else who served as an inspiration to you?
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: Absolutely! My pastor, when I was growing up, talked a lot. When it was February and it was Black History Month, we had a lot of conversations and did small book studies for our church group about different Black history leaders. As I became an adult, I did my own Sunday school class, and teachers and I did that same thing. We talked about different leaders that had impacted our society, so there are very many. Rosa Parks is definitely one that we always would look at and learn and just being able to take a stand and be courageous about the stand that you take. And as you know, Rosa Parks got on the bus and refused to get up simply because she was tired. Sometimes, we don't know what we don't know and it turned into this huge movement. This year for our Black history program for YCHS, we're reinventing the Selma march, and we'll be reinventing some of the speeches that were done and really focusing on the why as to this march and what it did for our leaders and how it changed some of our thoughts and then, also, really how is it impacting our students now, so that we can make sure that our students understand and know the importance of that march and how that march changed a lot of things in history for us.
Caroline MacGregor: Your journey from being a child who was interested in the idea of teaching to becoming an educator and, ultimately, a high school principal, tell me a bit about the difficulties that you faced along the way as a Black woman in achieving your goals.
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: That is a great question! Wow! I think just being a change agent and being courageous because sometimes when you become a principal, it's more male dominated—more white male dominated—and just really changing that narrative and helping my African American girls and girls of color know that they too can do this. It is attainable. And really being that model for them of what Black excellence looks like is very important to me. So, presenting myself well, having great conversations with my students and just being compassionate and showing them what a Black female leader looks like is important to me. I think the barriers, oftentimes, I think it's people's preconceived notions of who you are and what you're about. I think having the courage and the patience to help people that have these preconceived notions to see you differently and hopefully change their perspective about me as a leader and being able to do this job and as effectively, if not better, than my white counterparts.
Caroline MacGregor: As you teach young people, how can we inspire students today to help their fellow students in the future?
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: I think, today, we talk about being courageous, we talk about being empathetic, we talked about being trendsetters, change agents and knowing who they are and what got them here and that other people before them made such great sacrifices to get them the ability to vote, to get to sit in a classroom and learn and have the opportunity to go on to college and attain a master's, a Ph.D, making sure that we instill those things within our current students and really pushing them to see that, in order for us to continue on in a positive direction, they have to be those people that stand up and say something, those people that stand for justice, stand for inequalities and speak out against them, making sure that they know that they too have a voice. And their voice is important and it's impactful. They have the ability and the right because of our ancestors' sacrifices and other leaders' sacrifices and that they too can be a change agent for positivity in our community.
Caroline MacGregor: Well, it's been a pleasure to speak with you today, Dr. Harris-Hugan! Thank you so much for joining us here on WEMU as we celebrate Black History Month!
Dr. Chelsea Harris-Hugan: Yes, thank you for having me! I appreciate this opportunity! Absolutely!
Caroline MacGregor: This is 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti.
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