She’s always walking around the halls with her keys jingling. You can hear the sound of her walkie talkie during lunch. Despite her always being busy, Ms. Valerie Forero always has time for a chat if you need to talk to her.
Ms. Valerie Forero has been at Mission High School for 17 years. She became principal unexpectedly in the middle of the 2022-2023 school year, but was the assistant principal for 15 years. Before coming to Mission she was a counselor at John O’Conell, and a dean at Wallenberg for one year.
Her main goal for Mission is to get students to attend school every day. She says:
“Attendance matters, and our main goal is that we want school to be a fun place where students are attending regularly.”
When asked what’s most important for Mission students:
“What’s most important is to help students focus on their academics, [and making school] a place where they can find joy with a community that they feel like they belong to and a place they want to come to every day.”
Kyha Bryant, a senior, believes that Ms. Forero has done a good job as principal. She thinks that the way she communicates to students is welcoming and sweet.
“I feel like the way she goes about certain situations is good. She’s only human so there’s only so much she can do.”
After students graduate, a new wave of ninth grade students come and have trouble finding classes. They get overwhelmed with being in a new environment.
“Upperclassmen can really help by modeling what it means to be at school,” she said, “like being on time and attending school everyday while also participating in all the student activities and being a part of the community.”
Being a principal is difficult and a lot goes on behind the scenes.
“Last year was a really hard year because there were moments when students were unsafe and it felt really bad…It felt like something could have been done better,” she said.
Despite these challenges, Ms. Forero enjoys her job: “Meeting with students, talking about what we can do better as a community to ensure that this place is safe, clean, and a joyful and exciting place to be in every day.”
Ms. Forero shows hard work and dedication in making our school a safe space to go and a fun place to attend every day
