Dr. Indra Bullock was raised by teachers, but she never wanted to be one growing up. She looked at the kind of hours her parents dedicated to their jobs and decided that she’d be an actress instead. But when her parents looked at her they did not see a burgeoning actress: “My parents said, ‘You were born to be a teacher,'” explains Bullock.
Not heeding their advice, Bullock decided to pursue a degree in acting. “About half way through getting my bachelor’s degree I decided I didn’t have the heart to follow it,” Bullock says. “I didn’t want to be 30 and bartending–I didn’t have that type of passion.”
She switched gears and majored in communications and graduated from Westchester University with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Communications and Theater. “After I graduated,” she continues, “fate brought me to be an English Language Learner tutor in Caroline County.”
That job was temporary, however, and after it had ended, she tried her hand at sales. “I absolutely was not cut out for sales,” she remembers. “A job opened up, and I was offered a provisional license and started teaching at Greensboro Elementary School.”
She found her place teaching and while she was at the elementary school she worked to get her teaching certification. “I had a passion for working with students and teaching English as a second language,” says Bullock. “So I applied for a competitive scholarship and was awarded my Master’s Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language.”
Teachers are required to maintain their certification and Bullock looked at her options and settled on taking a course in school administration. It seems fate was working in her favor again because she discovered that she felt connected to the role of administrator.
She was placed in Easton Middle School as the Assistant Principal and from there began working towards her doctorate. “Another scholarship program was offered to me and I took it,” she recounts. “I wasn’t sure I should because of all the work that was involved, but I am so very glad I did.” In addition to learning about administration, she learned about running schools as well as districts.
She completed work on her doctorate just last year and starting contemplating the role of principal, “Then the position here at St. Michaels Elementary School opened up and I interviewed, and I wouldn’t trade this position for anything in the world.”
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