Jacob Collazo is exactly where he always dreamed he would be.
He grew up attending Thousand Oaks Elementary School, Driscoll Middle School and Reagan High School. Today, he’s the proud principal of Royal Ridge Elementary School.
“Serving as principal of Royal Ridge is both the best job I have ever had, as well as the most impactful,” said Collazo. “Taking what I have learned in NEISD schools since the age of six and paying it forward has been the driving force behind the work we do.”
The work Collazo and his team undertake every day stems from the foundation poured growing up as an NEISD student. He still remembers his fourth grade teacher at Thousand Oaks and views her as an inspiration for the way he interacts and inspires his own students and staff.
“I vividly remember my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Jespersen. She was the one who inspired me to be a fourth grade teacher by her way around the classroom. Everything was done with a servant’s heart and I can remember feeling more connected to her classroom and a sense of belonging that I had not felt in school prior. I wanted to someday create a classroom community of my own which has evolved in time to the type of school environment I strive for.”
Collazo is focused on cultivating meaningful relationships with students, teachers and staff at Royal Ridge. He believes the childhood experiences and memories made at NEISD schools set the bar for the leader he strives to be today.
“Being a graduate of NEISD schools taught me the value that a positive school experience can have on an individual. When I attended college, I felt easily equipped to handle the demands of the university experience. In some ways, my high school experience was actually more academically rigorous. Beyond university, the non-academic skills of collaboration, leadership, and work ethic I learned in NEISD schools have helped me become the individual I am today.”
October is National Principals Month. NEISD could not accomplish our mission of challenging and encouraging each student to achieve great things without the dedicated men and women who lead our schools.
