Mountain View students were saddened to learn of Principal Harmon’s departure last year but as one door closes, another opens. Our school has the pleasure of welcoming a lovely new Principal, Markee Ramirez.
Principal Ramirez is excited to start her position here at Mountain View. She has previous experience as an assistant principal but this is her first position as a head principal. Her main goal is to be a support system for everyone. “I think the biggest thing for me is really supporting students and also supporting teachers because when you leave the classroom to go into administration you lose a lot of the relationships that you would have built in the classroom with your students and so now I have the ability to impact the students through the teachers…I want teachers to know that I am here to support them and that’s probably one of the biggest focuses of my job.”
Later in the interview, Ramirez mentioned that she hopes to hear student feedback. She would like to know what students think could be implemented to meet their needs or to just bring more fun to the high school experience. During her time here, Principal Ramirez will do all she can to be approachable and trustworthy to students and teachers. She plans to be present as much as possible within classrooms, hallways, and events as well as continuing focus groups started while Mrs. Harmon was principal.
It is also apparent that Ramirez is a woman with incredible dedication, “I don’t look to move around very often because I really want to grow some roots within the school that I’m working [at].” It is easy for someone to say they have the students’ best interests in mind and not mean it, but P. Ramirez truly does have our best interests in mind seeing as she has two of her own children going here. “I feel that I have more of a personal stake in how things go here at the high school because this is where my children are and I wouldn’t want to do anything at the school that wouldn’t benefit all students.”
While it’s important to focus on Ramirez’s goals here at the school, it is equally important to remember that she is human too. She loves living in Colorado because, in her free time, she gets to go fishing, hiking, and bask in the glory of the mountains. Among visiting the mountains, Ramirez likes to partake in the many other opportunities Northern Colorado has to offer such as concerts, sporting events, and entertainment events.
Earlier in her career, Ramirez was a girls’ basketball coach. She says that being a coach herself, she looks for inspiration from other coaches. One specific coach is John Wooden. “His philosophy of breaking things down into very simple components and then being able to work really hard at those simple steps in order to create something that’s more complex is kind of a philosophy that I’ve always lived by.” Take some time to say hi and maybe have a conversation! It’s easy to forget that teachers and authority figures are just humans too.
The interview wrapped up with a message from Principal Ramirez to all of us here at the school. “I was really excited when the opportunity came about to apply for the principal position and I am just very ecstatic that I have this position now. I think this is where I was meant to be and that helps drive and helps motivate me every day that I am here.”
