Fort Zumwalt Mount Hope Elementary School will welcome a new principal this fall. Whittney Carter joins the staff from the DeSoto School District, where she has served the past two years as principal at Athena Elementary. Carter, in her 14th year in education, also has served as an elementary school assistant principal. As a teacher she worked with fourth graders and first graders. She is looking forward to her new role with Mount Hope.
“I am looking forward to being part of the Fort Zumwalt district, with its high accolades, and collaborating, learning, and growing with some of the best,” she says. “My main goal this first year is to get to know the staff, students and families that make up the Mount Hope community and work together to strengthen the pack.”
An avid reader, Carter says there are too many good books to name just one as her favorite. When she’s focused on reading to learn, she has been taking in a lot about the brain. “I love learning about how the brain works and how that affects students' responses, as well as their ability to retain information,” Carter says.
When she’s not at school, Carter likes to spend time with family, usually playing board games or crafting. Students might try striking up a conversation by asking her about SkipBo, one of her favorite games, or water beads, a craft project she and her family keep coming back to. A quote she keeps coming back to helps Carter stay focused on her personal mission. “My favorite quote comes from Ghandi,” she says. “‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ We can't just talk about changes that we want to see, we have to model with our own behaviors, take action, and make the changes we want to see.”
It is a patch of common ground she shares with students and staff that will serve as her starting point as she joins Mount Hope, one of Fort Zumwalt’s 10 Leader In Me schools. The Huskies started their Leader In Me journey, rooted in the 7 Habits of Happy Kids, last school year. Carter is eager to embrace the power of common language and setting goals. “I have used the 7 Habits of Happy Kids book with my fourth-graders during our morning meeting time,” Carter says. “And, a commonly used phrase in my home is ‘first things first,’ so I am looking forward to learning more about this growth mindset model along with the Mount Hope family.”