 in West Africa Ghana, my parents were expats, and they worked for a organization at the time that was funded by one of a government agency. And I'm going to tell you, I came to the United States in 1976 at four, and my mother and I were talking about this the other night that I was an L student coming to America. And the first country that I ever visited, even though I was American citizen, was America. My parents were originally from Philadelphia, which I'm proud to say. And I had my formative years in West Philadelphia, and I went back overseas to finish my education in high school, for high school. And I came back to Pennsylvania, I went to undergrad and grad school in the state of Pennsylvania. I am, I have the opportunity to get married here in the city of Alexandria, actually at Alpha Street Baptist Church, which is one of our historic churches here in the city of Alexandria, and my son was actually born at Inovia Hospital right around the corner. So my roots tie to the city of Alexandria runs deep. I'm a military spouse and have had the opportunity because of my husband to work in six different school districts across the world, including Hawaii, Korea, and Japan. When we returned from Asia to, back to the United States, we moved here into Cameron Station where Samuel, the school is nestled. And the first time I heard about Samuel W. Tucker was from my son when he was in third grade. So I had no idea who he was, and my son came in and educated me about this wonderful man who opened up so many doors for students, I mean for students. So that's how I first learned of Samuel Tucker. Both my son and daughter were students here, and when he graduated from fifth, when he promoted from fifth grade, he received the Samuel W. Tucker book, and they made sure that every student was able to receive this book upon their promotion from fifth grade. I was an assistant principal here for five years prior to that. So I was pretty much ingrained in the community. I lived here for about five or six years, and then I became the assistant principal here at Samuel Tucker. And during that time, I became very, very familiar to the story of Samuel Tucker. It started last year, last couple of years, especially after the pandemic. And when we came back together as a staff, we wanted to remember and recall why are we here? And because when you go on through the pandemic, you think and you look at what's important. And for me, that's what I looked at is what was important and understanding Samuel W. Tucker and his contributions to the city of Alexandria. And when we reopened, we decided as administrative team that we were going to always honor Samuel W. Tucker. We don't start anything the new year without talking about who Samuel W. Tucker is and his legacy's legacy and whose shoulders that we stand upon. Because these are the strong shoulders that we stand on to help us get through the day to day. When we go through our character education and our social emotional time, in the morning, we always ingrain the characteristics of Samuel W. Tucker and who he was. We work hard to get smart, which was one of his sayings. And when you go onto our website, you will see that we give honor to him first because he was the one that established that safe harbor, making sure each student, as Ms. David said, that each student that walked through the doors of any school or any educational facility here in the city of Alexandria that they had a safe harbor and that they had the ability to become who they want to become. And that is what he did, opening those doors for us all. Back in 2014, we had an awesome teacher that did create a reenactment of Samuel Tucker sitting and that reenactment that has been recorded lives on here. So our students can learn more about him and as well as his legacy will never be forgotten. Also, last year, unfortunately, because our 20th year anniversary, we were in the pandemic, we couldn't really celebrate. So last year, when we were able to all come back to school, last school year, we celebrated the 20th anniversary of Samuel Tucker, Samuel W. Tucker, the school opening. And what we did, we had special activities for our students and then we also had special presentations as well as bulletin boards and celebrations to celebrate who he was. So we will not forget where we originated from and the impact of our predecessor of Kathy David of establishing this brand new school and the reason and the legacy of who Samuel W. Tucker was. I'm humbled to be the first woman of color, first person of color to be at the helm principle of Samuel Tucker Elementary. I am his wildest dream, just to think about it. We hear that, that we are our ancestors wildest dream. I am his wildest dream. Would he have ever thought that a school would be named after him, one? To be as diverse with 35 languages spoken from children from all over the world. And then for me to be the principal, I am his legacy. And that is something that Miss David started with the name, with the opening of Samuel Tucker, not forgetting his legacy. And we have to pay respect and homage to those who came before us, those who fought that fight for us. It is amazing and it's profound. And we take so much for granted. And just sitting here with you, I feel even more invigorated, recharged because it's the end of the year. You know, you were about to close another year, but it gives me pride and purpose, understanding that we're opening doors to Afghan girls who've never had the opportunity to learn or go to school in their home country. And now they can hear freely and giving them that support. That's what he, that's what this man did. And this is what he wanted, civil rights for all. When we first moved here to Alexandria from Okinawa, Japan, I really didn't know anyone in the area. I had no idea where, you know, what this area was brand new to the area after eight years. You know, where the first place I went, where the first place I took my children after probably a week being here was to the library. And when you go into the library, Beatley Library, which is right across history from us, you're gonna see the hub of the community. At night, you're gonna see English classes taking place. You're gonna see individuals who do not have access to the internet sitting and accessing the internet, and you'll see students from my high school working. And you'll see our students in the library reading and the children's nook reading. What does a library give? I remember when I was young in West Philadelphia, as soon as I got off from school, running down to the main library. And what did that give me? It gave me a great escape. And reading and having access to books is a great escape and it gives you the opportunity to explore lands that are places that you would never have the opportunity to explore. So, libraries are very, very important. And with Mr. Tucker having the foresight to understand the importance of a library and what a library can do for a child and what he fought for for us, us all. Once again, I'm an all to be able to sit here and be the principal of Samuel W. Tucker Elementary.