Inspiration

The person who has inspired me the most as a leader is my father, Kenneth Palmer. I watched him lead three schools, Larchwood SDA; Dupont Park SDA and Baltimore Junior Academy SDA into times of educational innovation as well as financial prosperity. After success as a principal, he was asked to serve as Superintendant of Education for Allegheny East Conference. It was during this time that the conference experienced a time of educational revival and renewal, as my father took various teachers to Marva Collins' school in Chicago. It was during this time that our teachers were introduced to such innovations at the time such as the multi-disciplinary approach to learning e.g. Gulliver's math, etc.

It was my father who taught me as an adolescent about the three parts of every meeting as we were riding in the car. There is the pre-meeting, the meeting and the post-meeting in which the pre- and post- are both informal, but as he explained to me, if you miss any of the three meetings, you don't know what happened at the meeting.

I've watched my father endure real adversity as a leader and yet his faith in God and his faith in his calling never wavered, at least now where I could see. I hope to one day as even-keeled as my father was during his time of leadership. He is now retired but I still find his wisdom and knowledge as a leader to be an invaluable resource.