By Max Zaninovich, News Editor
Last year the Mills Community said goodbye to two of our beloved Assistant Principals, Mr. Gomez and Ms. Schlax, both of whom will be sorely missed. Nevertheless, this year we turn the page and welcome two new Assistant Principals, Mr. White and Mr. Ding.
Mr. White grew up in the East Bay, but he frequently drove across the bridge to visit family members in San Mateo and San Francisco. Mr. White formerly worked as an assistant principal at a high school in Richmond called De Anza High School. While he enjoyed his job as assistant principal there, he decided that it was time for a change. He specifically chose to come to Mills because his cousins went to Mills and really enjoyed their experience. When he was growing up Mr. White was much closer with the African American side of his family and the opportunity at Mills gave him a chance to really embrace his Asian heritage. Mr. White also emphasized the importance of Mills’ focus on race and equity, and how that played a big part in his decision to come here.
Mr. White’s favorite part of being here at Mills so far has been the impressive amount of school spirit of the students. A highlight of his so far was the rally and he says that he, “really gets the feeling that Mills students are proud to go to Mills.” Mr. White wants to build a culture at Mills where students can truly connect with each other, and he wants all students to feel comfortable trying new things and feel confident in who they are.
Mr. Ding’s role as assistant principal at Mills is his first assistant principal job. Mr. Ding graduated from Aragon and was drawn to Mills because he liked the diverse student body and high population of Asian American students. Mr. Ding actually accepted a different assistant principal job from a school in the SFUSD (San Francisco Unified School District), and shortly after, canceled his interview with Mills. That was until, Principal Duszynski called him personally and pushed him to reconsider. Mr. Ding was so touched by the personal call that he took the interview and eventually accepted the position at Mills.
So far in his time at Mills, Mr. Ding has made an effort to connect with students and he has noticed that Mills students are very receptive to talking. He emphasized that if you see him around campus, not to be shy and come up and say hello. When Mr. Ding was at Aragon he says that he, “never felt a sense of belonging,” and he hopes to ensure that students at Mills don’t feel the way he did at Aragon.
Ironically, Mr. Ding and Mr. White knew each other before their assistant principal positions brought them together at Mills. They actually earned their masters degree together and were good friends. Both Mr. Ding and Mr. White stressed how coming in together made their transition much easier. They share the same core values, but often offer different perspectives and approach challenges in different ways. As a result, they frequently look to each other for advice and are excited to continue working together in the future.
When they are not hard at work, you can often find Mr. Ding and Mr. White bouncing fashion styles off each other, discussing their favorite sneakers (Mr. Ding’s favorite is the Nike Air Sacai and Mr. White’s is the Jordan Retro Bred 4), or talking about music. Both Mr. Ding and Mr. White are avid hop-hop fans and agree that The Blueprint by Jay-Z, is the greatest album of all time.
Mr. Ding and Mr. White are looking forward to helping all Mills Students along their highschool journey and can’t wait to continue their work as Assistant Principals here at Mills for years to come.
