'It's Just Loving These Children'

October 6, 2016

Not just anyone has appeared on Oprah to discuss a book they’ve co-authored. Not just anyone gets invited to speak all around this country and in many others on educational leadership.

Not just anyone gets selected Principal of the Year – twice. In the same school district. While leading the same school.

Then again, not just anyone is Muriel Summers.

Bursting with pride, tears

The 20-year veteran principal of A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary was named the 2016-17 Principal of the Year on Oct. 5. It's the second time in 15 years she has been so honored.

The next day her entire school was bursting with pride. And Summers was about to burst into tears.

Nearly 1,000 students and their teachers lined the hallways while Summers crisscrossed her way through, with her grown children and a posse of “super heroes” in tow. She made it a point to hug as many of her students as she possibly could.

“It’s just wonderful,” Summers remarked after walking the red carpet and into the throngs of handmade posters and beaming faces. “This community has embraced me for 20 years. We have created something as a community that is now being replicated around the world.”

Combs Magnet Elementary students give Principal Muriel Summers the "red-carpet" treatment the day after she was named Principal of the Year

Leader among Leadership schools

Combs is the nation’s first Leadership Magnet school. More than 3,000 have since emerged in the United States and a number of other countries. Combs has been named America’s top magnet school twice since 2006.

What motivates someone to be so highly lauded for remaining at the top of their game after nearly 40 years?

“I think it’s just love,” said Summers as the tears started to flow. “It’s just loving these children. And when you see how many countries from around the world are represented in this school, and when you see the innocence of a child…”

“There’s no hatred. There’s no prejudice. It’s just pure love. That's what I would hope we would one day see in this world.”

Her school’s supremely successful theme has been replicated many times over. But you'll never see another Muriel Summers.