From Start to Finish

This dynamic principal/NASCAR racer has got her eye on one major prize helping her junior high students realize that they alone are in charge of their destinies

We'd be lying if we didn't say we paused before we got into the car of Kirn Crosby, principal of Slidell Junior High School in Slidell, LA. Kirn, who has been Slidell's principal for three years, is also one of the only female competitors in the NASCAR races and who, in addition to racing on a professional team, also has a growing collection of "only" five race cars of her own. "Come on!" she called to us. "I promise to only go 120."

Sure, it was a joke, but with that, we knew that whether we were in the backseat of Kim Crosby's TransAm or whether she was acting as our tour guide of SJHS, an impressive school with over 1,000 students, we were going to be in for one heck of a ride.

The nicest compliment. Even though Kirn's father is a principal, it didn't occur to her right away that she might have a similar calling. Shortly after graduating from high school, she entered the medical field. One day, as she was training a woman on how to do a medical procedure, the woman turned to her and said, "You should really be a teacher!" Kim felt like a light had suddenly gone on. "I went home and told my husband that 1 had received the nicest compliment that day," she told us. "The more I thought about it, the more I knew that I really did want to be a teacher." Kim wasted no time and immediately went back to school and got certified in elementary education. "But I knew right off the bat, I wanted to be a principal," she said.

After graduating, Kim went on to a Master's program and then went straight on to teaching. In Louisiana, you have to teach for five years before you can become an administrator. "I made sure everyone was aware that I eventually wanted to become a principal," Kim laughed. "I am definitely one of those people who knows what they want and goes after it."

Follow your dreams. That idea of knowing what you want and stopping at nothing to get it, is a major part of the message that Kim and SJHS's teachers are determined to get across to their students. Although the school system has adopted an in-depth positive behavior support campaign SJHS's hallways are literally plastered with wonderful messages such as, "We're all in this together!" and "Only Positive Attitudes Past This Point" - there is one theme in particular that is very close to Kim's heart - "Follow Your Dreams."

"I try to tell the kids that the world is full of opportunities and no one else is going to give those opportunities to you," she remarked. "I use myself as an example and tell them about how I got into racing, which is a hard sport to get into, especially when you're female. Someone said to me, 'You'll never be able to put a team together or find sponsors,' and 1 just said, 'Watch me.' "

Wanna race? Before Kim got into racing, she was no stranger to cars. Even though she has three brothers, it was Kim who was at her father's side ("He was always a major car buff," she said), learning how to change the oil and how to identify the year and make of cars. When Kim was still very young, her dad took her to the Indianapolis Speedway and took her around the track - little did he know where that trip would lead her.

Her early fascination with cars and racetracks was re-awakened a few years later when she met her future husband, Chris, at age 18. He was a drag racer himself and helped Kim get her start in both drag and circle-track racing. She enrolled in racing school, later became a racing instructor and eventually struck out to race on her own.

While the allure of the sport and of the race track and her fans is something Kim can't deny (her ultimate goal is to win the Nextel Cup), she knows that at SJHS, she is right where she is supposed to be.

Accentuating the positive. After putting in her time teaching (she ended up teaching for six years), Kim got the opportunity to teach sixth grade and once again, fate intervened. "I really fell in love with the junior high kids and when the opportunity to be principal here came along, it just felt so right, 1 jumped in." Kim, who refers to herself as the school's "#1 Cheerleader," truly has a knack for reaching kids of junior high age and it was evident as we walked SJHS's hallways with her, that the students regard her with a special, reserved kind of respect. As Kim herself joked with us, "No one messes with Mrs. Crosby!" Although she concedes that even though she makes a point to walk the hallways and routinely pop into classrooms, much of her interaction with the children tends to be when they get sent to her office - generally for something negative. She does what she can to turn that valuable one-onone time into something positive. "At this age, everything is of the moment. It's a tough time for them - they aren't little kids any more and they're not quite adults. We just try to get our kids to think ahead and to have goals and think about what's going to happen down the road. There are two paths to take - we want them to take the one that will get them where they want to go."

Your "other" life. Even though Kim Crosby says that the perfect job for her is as principal of Slidell Junior High School, it was her reputation as a race car driver that preceded her.

Before she came to SJHS, Kim was already something of a local celebrity and had taught many of her students' older siblings at the previous schools where she had worked. "I think some of the kids thought I was going to come to school and just talk about race cars all day," she said. Her students were so interested in her "other" life as a race car driver that she realized it might be just the thing to turn into a very positive learning experience for SJHS.

"When I bring in the cars, the first thing I talk about is sportsmanship," she told us. "When I race, there is only one winner. So, you have to learn how to deal with the frustration of not being first all the time. Then we get into the science and math portion of my lesson and that's where I really blow them away!" she said.

The first thing she does after the kids have thoroughly checked out her race car (on these special days, she even comes to school decked out in full racing gear) she takes out her tool box and hands one of the students a 3/8 wrench. From there she gets into fractions, decimals, circumference, radius and diameter. She is quick to add that she's not the only one at SJHS with hidden talents. Just as she is a cheerleader for her students, she's possibly an even louder cheerleader for her teachers. "Our teachers are phenomenal," she commented. "They are all so committed and love the junior high age."

To showcase their talents (there's both a boat captain and scuba diver on staff) as well, this year SJHS will be having "Fun Fridays" where the teachers will share some of their own hidden talents with the kids.

Having a ball. While visiting SJHS, we got an opportunity to see many of these phenomenal teachers in action in its classrooms. We also marveled at the sheer enormity of the school (SJHS spans almost two blocks) and couldn't believe that over 1,000 children were on site.

In between classes, the hallways were teeming with kids in green polo shirts and khakis (the uniform dress code is strictly enforced at SJHS) and teachers. However, once the bell rang, a sense of order and quiet prevailed over the school. Every classroom that we sat in, kids were organized, focused and attentive. Not only were the kids happy to be there, but the teachers themselves exuded great excitement about the subjects they were teaching. In Ms. Indest's science class, with every right answer she received, she would smile brightly and exclaim, "Yes! Thank you!"

When the students who are lucky enough to attend SJHS take advantage of the opportunities that come before them, the whole world is going to be racing to catch up - we're anxious to see all that awaits them at the finish line.

BY KATHERINE PIERPONT,

SENIOR EDITOR

Copyright Early Years, Inc. Nov/Dec 2004
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