Briscoe Junior High principal Michael Semmler, spent part of his summer at the Leadership Institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Semmler was awarded a spot summer 2014 program through Raise Your Hand Texas.

Principals are chosen through a competitive process. Those chosen travel to Harvard where they meet with other principals from Texas and all over the world and attend the weeklong professional development summer course. The courses are taught by internationally-renowned and published faculty at the school in Cambridge, MA.

“I was super excited,” Semmler said. “I knew that if given this opportunity, I would come back and really be able to put a shot of adrenaline into my campus.”

The program is designed to help experienced principals strengthen their leadership skill,  with an ultimate goal of raising student achievement. The curriculum is also designed to teach principals proven techniques for improving relationships with faculty and staff.

“Part of my development at Harvard was in learning how to better delegate and to trust my staff and faculty members,” Semmler said. “Every issue does not need to be solved by the principal.”

“My participation in the Harvard Leadership Program will have a lasting effect,” he said. “The bottom line is I want my faculty and staff fired up with a ‘We-are-gonna-beat-our-toughest-challenges-this-year!’ attitude, so that we, as educators, can make a difference.”