| MESPA Home > Professional Development > MESPA Institute > Institute 2012: Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds > Salome Thomas-EL, Keynote |  | | MESPA Home > Professional Development > MESPA Institute > Institute 2012: Healthy Hearts, Healthy Minds > Salome Thomas-EL, Keynote | | | Salome Thomas-EL, The Principal | | World-renowned principal, educator, motivator and author of I Choose to Stay and The Immortality of Influence, Salome Thomas-EL is a member of “Core Team Oz,” a group featured on The Doctor Oz Show seeking to motivate America to live better from the inside out. Principal Thomas-EL takes more than 20 years of education experience motivating children and adults to embrace education and hard work as stepping stones to success to challenge America's families to live their best lives now.
Thomas-EL was born and raised in the inner city of Philadelphia and has been a teacher in the Philadelphia School District since 1987. He received national acclaim as a teacher and chess coach at Vaux Middle School, where his students have gone on to win world recognition as Eight-Time National Chess Champions. Armed with only a chess board and a profound belief in their potential, Thomas-EL’s faith and commitment have motivated hundreds of children in Philadelphia to attend magnet high schools, major colleges and universities.
Thomas-EL is a graduate of East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. He is currently a doctoral candidate and has studied in Cambridge and London, England. He has received the Marcus A. Foster Award as the outstanding School District Administrator in Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania’s distinguished Martin Luther King Award. Philadelphia Magazine honored him as the 2006 “Best Philadelphian,” and he frequently appears on C-SPAN, CNN and NPR Radio.
Thomas-EL is the former principal of John F. Reynolds Elementary School in North Philadelphia. He is a national education expert, media consultant and former teacher and principal. He is a national board member of the America’s Foundation for Chess and a consulting teacher and principal in school districts across the country. As part of his commitment to opening the world up to show his students that there are other ways to live than those to which they have been exposed, he takes them to visit colleges and then attends their graduations. Reflecting on how it feels to see a young person he has mentored walk down the aisle toward a real future instead heading towards an early grave, Thomas-EL said, “I’ve been to too many funerals; I need to go to more graduations.”
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| Keynote Speaker |
Wednesday, February 1, 1 p.m.in the Grand Ballroom speaking on
"The Immortality of Influence"Sponsored by VIRCO.
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| Salome Thomas-EL | Visit him at The Principal.
For information on his books, scroll down.
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| The heart of the national dialgoue on education policy: | “Every child needs someone to be crazy about them.” These are the words
of Salome Thomas-EL -- and they shape his life-long commitment to answering the question, “How do
we ensure that every child achieves their greatest potential?”
This
question lies at the heart of the national dialogue on education policy,
the day in and day out work of school personnel, and the hopes of every
parent. Central to this challenge is how we succeed with children who
are facing the most serious barriers to success: poverty, violence,
neglect, and low expectations.
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| Institute Book Sale, $15 each | In The Immortality of Influence, with a foreword by Will Smith, Salome Thomas-EL has an action plan that all of us—educators, businesspeople, volunteers, relatives and everyday folks—can use to reach out to the young people in our lives. For any caring adult, this book is an essential guide to making a difference—not just for today, but forever.
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| | In I Choose to Stay, Salome Thomas-EL documents his reaction when he was promoted and transferred to another school in November of 1997. He had been a teacher at Roberts Vaux Middle School in Philadelphia’s inner city since 1989. The promotion came not only because he had helped to improve morale and discipline at his school, but also he had taught children to play chess and they went on to win local and national competitions. Besides a $20,000 raise, he would have authority to make changes and greater opportunities to influence a larger number of students. He turned down the promotion.
“I can’t leave my students,” he said. “What happens if they come in on Monday and I’m not here? They’ll say, ‘He left because of the money,’ and I don’t want them to think that way. I’m the only male role model many of these kids have. I want them to know at least one black male who is committed to stay.”
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