Principals for a Day at TYWLS, NYC

Principals for a Day

Principal for a Day Nancy Shanker at TYWLS, Queens.

Thursday, October 19, 2006 was a special day in New York City public schools. The nonprofit group PENCIL (www.Pencil.org) held their annual event called Principal for a Day (PFAD) to bring outside business leaders into public schools. The goal of the program is for participants to translate their one-day experiences into long-term relationships that enhance the learning environments at their schools and support student achievement. The Young Women’s Leadership Schools in New York City participated and hosted three inspiring role models at our sites in the Bronx, Jamaica and Astoria, Queens. This year’s participants were Nancy Shenker, President of The On Switch, a marketing/media company (TYWLS, Queens), Gerda Hoehm, entrepreneur and distributor of Halfinger Footwear (TYWLS, Astoria) and Shannon Reynolds, Marketing and Sales Manager for The Weekly Reader (TYWLS, Bronx). Karen Zimmer, Executive Vice President of New Line Cinemas will be Principal for a Day at TYWLS, East Harlem in November. The PFAD’s inspired students with messages about being true to yourself, learning to speak up for yourself, focus on a career doing what your love and being nice to others. They each lent words of wisdom from their own experiences in their personal and professional lives that our students could relate to. In addition, the women were engaged in visiting classrooms, having lunch with students and meeting with teachers and staff to brainstorm ways they can help out our schools. We are truly appreciative for their time, look forward to seeing them each again and are proud to say that TYWLS has made some lifelong friends thanks to Principal for a Day!