When asked what she’s looking for in a principal Dr. Kenner said she looks for someone “to be a courageous leader…speaking up on behalf of our constituents… our students, our parents and our faculty and staff.” Priscilla Horton, the new Principal-in-Training at Whitney Young, fits the criteria. Even within the first meeting with her, Dr. Kenner could tell that she was a good fit for administration. During an interview with Dr. Kenner, she said “When I first met her, I really loved her enthusiasm, she really reminded me of myself, you know, in terms of her love for children, her commitment to students and just her desire to be the best that she could be.” Ms. Horton has already impacted the lives of so many children. We had the opportunity to interview her, and she shared this touching story about what motivated her to become an administrator.

“Last year, I was in the hospital for three nights with a family member who had fallen very ill. I was feeling very sad and down and was going downstairs to get some food. They have an Au Bon Pain at Rush Presbyterian Hospital and the girl who was making the sandwich looked at me and said ‘Ms. Horton!’ And I’m looking behind me and I’m like who is calling me, and she goes ‘Ms. Horton’. She taps the counter and goes, ‘Do you remember me?’ And I got closer. And I looked at her closely, and I said ‘Oh my God, you were in my division.’ That’s when she came from behind the counter, walked up to me, and gave me a big hug. As she hugged me, she said, ‘Ms. Horton, you are the reason I graduated high school. Ms. Horton, you changed my life.’ That’s when I teared up. She told me not to cry because I had done good work, and I was just ecstatic. And then, as I was leaving the hospital, I ran into another student that worked at the hospital who was cleaning up, and again he stopped and looked at me and said ‘Ms. Horton.’ At that point, I was like ‘This has to be staged. How could this happen in the same day?’ At that point, he puts his broom and bucket down and walks up to me. As I’m looking up, I was thinking ‘I don’t remember who you are, but tell me your name.’ He looks down at me and says ‘I’m one of your students from your division!’ He hugged me and told me about all of the other students from our division who were also working at the hospital. That day, I not only needed to see these students, but I was so fortunate to get to see the fruit of my labor. The kids that I ran into whose lives I touched, they made my life easier during a really hard time in my life. Each one in a different way said that I mattered, and for me that was huge.”
We went around Whitney Young and asked two students what qualities they liked to see in a principal.

“A principal has to be a leader, a good role model, and has to communicate with students and listen to what they want.”
-Kayleigh Peng ‘19

“I think that it is important to interact with the students. Dr. Kenner does a great job talking to students in the hall and connecting with them.”
-Christian Katalinic ‘17

As for Horton herself, she believes that “good leaders push you outside of your comfort zone. The thing about leaders that I feel that makes them great is that they’ve been the ones to come to me and say ‘You can do more. I’m going to challenge you to do more. As a matter of fact, I’m not going to allow you not to do more.’ I think that’s been a commonality for the leaders that I’ve seen that have been great.”
Clearly, Ms. Horton is very passionate about helping students and touching their lives. We feel Ms. Horton can and will become a great leader and principal, seeing as she’s been such an incredible educator at previous schools. We hope that she will continue impacting as many lives as she can. Good luck, Ms. Horton! Whitney Young is rooting for you.