Transformation Symposium crowd hears compelling keynote address Published March 4, 2010 By Mary Lou Gorny Hilltop Times editor HILL AFB, Utah -- "Team work is the dream work -- you've got to work as a team before you can make a dream happen," said Salome Thomas-EL (pronounced Sal-ohm Thomas-ell) at the Transformation Symposium held in the Base Theater on March 1. Those in attendance got a rare treat as the nationally acclaimed educator, or Principal EL, as he is most often called at the magnet school where he now works, talked about the qualities of leadership that led him to his role in teaching in an inner city school and transforming the lives of his students. Before that happened however, his own life had to be transformed and he credits many in his life for helping him get there. This educator who took a group of inner city Philadelphia children, taught them the intricacies of the game of chess, and took them on to win eight national championships, helping many of them to graduate, came from a background of some formidable challenges of his own. He gives credit first to his mother (now deceased), and the third-grade teacher who responded to her request. "I need one of my children to make it to college and get an education," he reported her pleading with the teacher. That teacher followed through in the fourth grade, making sure he got the things he needed to improve his skills by backing the fourth-grade teacher up, and he made it to a magnet school and then high school. The young man, now playing basketball, thought for sure the NBA was in his future and that he could skip college. But wise educators pulled him aside and talked to him about the merits of going to college and getting an MBA as opposed to going directly to the NBA saying, "We've seen you jump," referring to his skills on the court. After some hard work on his part, he did graduate from college. He went back to one of the teachers instrumental in his going to college saying, "I've got the degree but I don't have a job," as he wondered if he had wasted four years there. But that teacher put him in touch with her brother who worked for ESPN and soon he was putting together five minute videos for television broadcast at halftime on NBA millionaires such as Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. When he went back to his elementary school to give an inspirational talk because he remembered that others had told him how important it was for the kids to see what someone from their neighborhood had achieved, the kids asked him why he wasn't teaching them. He responded by getting a master's degree in education and going to teach in a school he attended as a child. "Success comes to some of the kids because they latch onto people who care," he reports as he described his experience with the students. "Strong and effective leadership is saying, 'Follow me because I was an excellent follower,'" EL said about what it takes to succeed as a leader. After seeing 10 kids killed a year in his elementary school on average due to violence, he was driven to help even more of them succeed, in concert with others around him. He decided chess was the answer because it taught students the art of critical thinking, to think ahead "around the bend." First he brought in chess boards and taught a group of special education students, letting them take the boards with them throughout the school. Things took off from there. He eventually had students beating college level students in national competitions. But the real victory for him was seeing them graduate from high school and go on to college and college degrees. He decided that the way to improve high school was to first start at the junior high/middle school level. Eventually he become Principal EL at a high school. "You can become anything you want as long as you work hard," he learned and taught. But, and this is crucial, "It wasn't about me," he said. "It was about them ending up on a campus." "A dream without a plan," he said, "is a hallucination." He said the Achilles heel of the leader is arrogance. His mother talked to him as he was preparing to become a principal, warning him that he should not go in and act as if he knew more than the "old ladies" who had taught for years. He made the mistake of quoting "his Mama" at one of their meetings and he says that the first year he had to make up for it by buying up every white board and teaching aid he could find because he had called them "old ladies" however kindly he had made the remark. He eventually got a call from one of his initial chess student members he had not heard from in awhile. "Otis" wanted him to know he was graduating from college. His former student told him that Principal EL didn't need to attend his college graduation, he just wanted him to know. EL called every one of Otis' teachers and although his own wife was having a tough pregnancy, they drove to Otis' graduation. "We must show up," he said they told each other. "But we missed the ceremony, all of us were crying all the way through it." In 2004, Otis went on to also graduate from Temple University Law School. EL told Otis, "You take that diploma, law school diplomas are very large, and you take it down to your neighborhood and you show them what you have done." This is important, EL said, because there is resistance to change. "People are naturally resistant to change. The closer you get to the improvement zone, the closer you approach that resistance zone because no one wants to leave their comfort zone." He reports that Arnold Schwarzenegger came to his school and offered to play one of his chess students. EL tried to persuade him not to do it. But Schwarzenegger played one of the girls and was taken to check mate in short order. "She terminated the Terminator," EL said. Schwarzenegger donated $20,000 to the chess club. They are using it for blazers for the chess club members and expenses for trips to competitions because those are the kinds of things the school does not get monetary support for from school budgets. EL said, "Make sure you are doing all you can do to be an agent of change." "Take care of yourself. You're no good to your team if you are in the hospital getting a triple bypass," he said. "Take care of yourself so that you are truly able to take care of those people who are following you," EL said.