{"id":18739,"date":"2019-04-25T13:23:06","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T17:23:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quantumnew.esu.edu\/insider\/?p=18739"},"modified":"2019-04-25T13:23:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T17:23:06","slug":"adam-schmucker-96-named-national-distinguished-elementary-principal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/adam-schmucker-96-named-national-distinguished-elementary-principal\/","title":{"rendered":"Adam Schmucker \u201996 Named National Distinguished Elementary Principal"},"content":{"rendered":"
Photo Caption: Trumbauersville<\/em> Elementary School Principal Adam Schmucker interacts with fifth-grade students in their classroom. Schmucker was named Pennsylvania’s National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary school principals. ART GENTILE \/ STAFF PHOTOJOURNALIST BUCKS COUNTY COURIER TIMES<\/em><\/h5>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a community event,\u201d says Adam G. Schmucker \u201996 of his approach to leading Trumbauersville Elementary School in Quakertown, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

That is the key to why Schmucker was recently named Pennsylvania\u2019s National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals — leading a community of students, teachers and staff who talk to each other, and who listen and are receptive to each other.<\/p>\n

Trumbauersville Elementary is a mid-sized, K-5 school of about 400 students in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. Schmucker says the school is \u201csmall enough for kids to be able to know me, and big enough to have the opportunity to expand their world view.\u201d<\/p>\n

Award criteria like \u201ccreating an environment where all students can excel\u201d and fostering \u201cdevelopment and collaboration among staff and faculty\u201d sound abstract until Schmucker talks about how they become reality every day at Trumbauersville Elementary. In short, his goal is to provide support for every member of the school community.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo principal can \u2013 or should \u2013 do things in isolation,\u201d Schmucker says. From kids to teachers to cafeteria staff, \u201cIt\u2019s a community event from the time the kids arrive until they get on the bus. It\u2019s hard and it\u2019s always kind of messy, but it works.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really try to talk to each other,\u201d he says, \u201cI just try to listen and be receptive to ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmucker is more roll-up-your-sleeves, sweater vest kind of guy rather than a suit-and-tie leader, who subscribes to management by walking around.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s easy to get caught in the technology and the email in-box,\u201d he says, preferring to be face to face. \u201cUsually one interaction leads to another and next thing you know, in a short walk down the hall you\u2019ve met four people and addressed five things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Helping both students and faculty excel includes regular \u201cinquiry meetings\u201d where teachers bring a piece of work or an issue and \u201cthink it through, look at it and have takeaways for the kids\u2019 learning.\u201d It also includes strategies like revising reading lists to encompass quality, contemporary literature that speaks to important topics that children may not get to see in their every day lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are always looking at what we can do better, always working to support student-focused teaching and learning. It\u2019s not just big people disseminating information to little people,\u201d he says. \u201cThat is at the root of what we do, helping kids understand the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Distinguished Principal Award also recognized Schmucker for his role coaching other principals through the Pennsylvania Department of Education\u2019s Inspired Leadership program, acting as a facilitator and mentor, and meeting monthly with a cohort of principals in their first five years in that role.<\/p>\n

Schmucker, who graduated from ESU with a degree in elementary education and minors in Spanish and special education, earned a master\u2019s degree in bilingual education from the University of Colorado\/Boulder. He is currently working on his doctoral degree from Lehigh University. \u00a0\u201cI like to keep learning, like to keep growing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

At ESU Schmucker was a member of Omicron Delta Kappa, the national honor society for leadership, and Phi Sigma Iota, the national honor society for foreign languages. His Spanish language skills serve him often with families whose first language is Spanish. \u201cIt is fun for me, and supportive for the families when I can easily communicate with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environment at Trumbauersville Elementary that Schmucker fosters is similar to what he experienced at ESU.\u00a0 \u201cOne thing I really liked was the connections I got. ESU is small enough that they were able to know me, sit down and talk to me, and big enough that I had opportunities to expand my world view.\u201d<\/p>\n

And like his experience at ESU, Schmucker says as a principal, \u201cIn my leadership I want to know the kids and give them attention, and open them up to a world beyond what they know right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry Barry, Ed.D., dean of the College of Education, calls Schmucker \u201ca perfect testament to what our education program represents. The true purpose is making a difference in the lives of the students we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he has a favorite part of the school day, Schmucker says it is any interaction with his students. Nothing makes him happier than when a child comes up and wants to share something with him.<\/p>\n

With a chuckle, Schmucker recalls an encounter that he and his family (wife Jessica, and children Claire, 16, and Emmett, 14) still joke about.\u00a0 One day at bus dismissal, a little kindergartener waved at the principal with a big smile and shouted, \u201cGoodbye Mister Mushywasher!\u201d\u00a0 Schmucker laughs and says the important thing is not that the child gets his name right, but that he \u201cjust knows I am here to help him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIt\u2019s a community event,\u201d says Adam G. Schmucker \u201996 of his approach to leading Trumbauersville Elementary School in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. That is the key to why Schmucker was recently named Pennsylvania\u2019s National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals — leading a community of students, teachers and staff who talk to each other, and who listen and are receptive to each other.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":18747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[182,74,143,15,17,20,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advancement","category-alumni","category-community","category-early-childhood-elementary-education","category-education","category-esu-success-stories","category-slider"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18739"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18749,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18739\/revisions\/18749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quantum.esu.edu\/insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}