My husband, Patrick Win, and I are the parents of four children, two boys at Wydown Middle School and two girls at Glenridge Elementary. Over the past 12 years I have gained practical and hands on experience volunteering within our schools, attending school board meetings and working with the district administrators and local community resources to support our students, teachers and parents. Now, two main issues have inspired my run for school board: the continuing challenge of meeting our students’ individual scholastic needs, and the importance of fostering students’ social and emotional health.

As a Clayton parent, I have been continually amazed at how different our students are from one another, each with his or her own strengths, interests and challenges. Clayton students are a community of individuals with a vast array of academic and emotional needs. Meeting individual needs is one of the toughest – and most important – challenges all schools continually face. It requires a constant renewal of energy, resources, ideas and commitment. School board support is essential, and I would like to be a part of this.

Last year, the district launched The Profile of a Graduate, a program which identified and defined the characteristics we collectively value and wish our graduates to exemplify. They include: self-actualization, intellectual curiosity, empathy, cultural competency, creative thinking and collaboration. While academic achievement is a bedrock Clayton value, this isn’t the portrait of a student who is  simply “a high achiever.” We’re interested in our students becoming people who will seek out fulfilling work, engage in their communities and care about something beyond themselves. It strikes me that so many of these attributes are ones that are deeply connected to social emotional health, which is the focus of my education and professional work. In 1998, I earned a B.A. in Psychology from Washington University and completed two Master’s degrees in Public Health and Social Work in 2002. I then worked as a mental health counselor and health educator at Wash U, providing information and support to help students navigate daily life and make healthy choices. Now, I am passionate about addressing these issues for Clayton students.