Who is “The Bossy Principal"?
“I have fought so hard to become her, that I never want to forget her again. There have been so many times in my life when I’ve allowed myself to get lost in people and circumstances, which led me to forgetting who I was— never again.”
-Chassity Coston
Wow.
When I typed the title of this post, I had to take a step back to truly think—”Who am I?”. It seems like such an easy question, until asked.
Our initial instinct is to run down this laundry list of accomplishments and titles that we’ve acquired over time; but in essence, that’s not who we truly are. Those things are simply hats we wear, or things we’ve done.
Me becoming a principal is not who I am. It is what I do—merely my job, yet definitely my passion. But me being bossy? We’ll dive into that later! However, for informational purposes, my job (at the time of writing this, which was March 2020) is currently the Middle School Coordinator at an American-based School in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I basically oversee all administrative affairs pertaining to the middle school. I report to my boss who is the principal, in which he oversees all high school administrative affairs. Educating overseas was a career dream of mine that I fulfilled beginning August 2019, and it has been the experience of a lifetime that I cannot wait to share.
But for now, again I ask—who am I?
I am selfless. I am love. I am bold. I am beautiful, inside and out. I am thorough. I am resilient. I am a work in progress. I am passionate. I am talented. I am multi-faceted. I am redeemed. I am a winner. I am Chassity.
I am Chassity, simply. Interestingly enough, the meaning of my name means “purity”. I believe I am pure spirited; meaning that I come in rare form, and I possess a humble and clean mind, heart, and soul.
I have fought so hard to become her, that I never want to forget her again. There have been so many times in my life when I’ve allowed myself to get lost in people and circumstances, which led me to forgetting who I was—never again. One of my favorite self-written quotes states, “Work to get to a point where you don’t have to find yourself over and over; no more getting lost.” And that’s truly been my mantra for a while now.
Let’s not forget, I am also bossy! I know that historically, bossy comes with a negative connotation—but hear me out! In modern days, bossy has taken on a totally different meaning. It is now a term coined to a woman who is on (snap) her (snap) ish (snap)! For amusement, feel free to check out the Urban Dictionary definition, but Merriam-Webster describes bossy as someone who is “inclined to domineer.” And I’ve been doing just that—domineering in my career for almost a decade now.
I think back to 2012, when I first began my personal Instagram page. I remember fumbling over a username for so long; I just couldn’t come up with anything clever! Until I finally thought about my passion for education, and decided upon “@bossy_teach”. For as long as I can remember, I was @bossy_teach on Instagram. Then, when I became an assistant principal in 2017, I changed it to “@bossy.edakator”. The latter part was in reference to “educator”, but also to my beloved sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (AKA), in which many of the sororities’ founders and members are educators. And now here we are in 2020, and I have progressed in my career to a principal!
But one thing has not changed—I am still bossy!
This article from Women on Business entitled “What is Bossy?” has the right idea. It states, “To me, a “boss” can see the strengths in others and utilize that individual so the project runs more efficiently. The right “boss” can make you feel like you have the best job in the world. A good “boss” makes you feel valued and appreciated. If being a boss means making decisions or exercising authority, then count me in.”
I own that I am bossy, in all positive connotations of the word. Referencing back to a few traits I used to describe myself above: selfless, bold, love, thorough, resilient, work in progress, passionate, talented, multi-faceted, winner. These are not only descriptions of me as a person, but also characteristics of me as a leader. I believe these are also the foundational traits it takes to run a successful school, amongst many others. As I journey through school leadership, I trust that my primary core value of relational capacity will shine through to meet my faculty/staff, students, and school community where they are, modeling to them that we must dare to always be be bold, always be bossy, and always lead with love.
Our students, and our future, depends on it.
