Ponderosa and Mills Staff Begin the School Year Focused on Unlocking Student Potential
Staff from Ponderosa Middle School and Mills Elementary School came together Monday at Ponderosa Middle School for the KFCNES In-Service, beginning the school year with a focus on collaboration, professional learning and the potential of every student.
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The morning began with a warm welcome as administrators stood at the entrance to greet staff arriving for breakfast. Blue and red balloon arches framed the doorway, creating a festive entrance as educators gathered for a day of learning and preparation ahead of the 2026–27 school year.
The keynote address was delivered by Jenice Pizzuto, founder and CEO and lead consultant of IMPACT Lead Succeed and co-author of Implement With IMPACT. Pizzuto challenged staff to think differently about potential, both in their students and in themselves, and emphasized that meaningful change in education requires people to work together.
“You may not know it, but people like you have presented your ideas and been a part of this work,” Pizzuto told staff, emphasizing the importance of educators having a voice in the work taking place in their schools.
Throughout her keynote, Pizzuto shared stories of people who were once considered underdogs or were overlooked, including the Harlem Raging Rooks chess team, the Golden 13, the first African American naval officers, Mount Everest climber Allison Levine and NASA astronaut José Hernández.
The stories shared a common theme: potential is not always immediately visible.
Pizzuto encouraged educators to look beyond assumptions about what students can or cannot accomplish.
“It’s a mistake to judge people by the heights they’ve reached,” she said. “We want to not miss the potential they might have.”
That message became a central theme of the morning as Pizzuto challenged staff to consider where Ponderosa and Mills are today, where they want to go and how they will get there together.
“We need everybody together to do this work,” Pizzuto said. “Because it’s big work.”
Pizzuto emphasized that creating lasting change cannot rest on the shoulders of one person or one group. Teachers, administrators, support staff, students, families, school board members and community partners all have a role to play.
“We didn’t get here alone, and I promise you we won’t get better alone,” Pizzuto said.
Pizzuto also outlined three major ideas for educators to carry with them throughout the school year: keep learning, build collective intelligence and have the courage to act.
She encouraged staff to view professional learning as something that should directly influence practice rather than simply being another event on the calendar.
“Professional learning should change what we do,” Pizzuto said. “If we do professional learning, we go back and keep doing the same thing, can we expect different results?”
Her message also centered about the idea that failure can be part of meaningful growth.
“Failure is an option,” Pizzuto said, encouraging educators to learn, adapt and continue moving forward when challenges arise.
Building collective intelligence, she said, means recognizing that the best ideas do not necessarily come from the loudest voice in the room. Strong teams find ways to draw on the knowledge, experience and perspectives of everyone.
“The best teams aren’t the ones with the best thinkers,” Pizzuto said. “They’re the teams that find and use the best thinking from everyone.”
Ultimately, Pizzuto challenged staff to see themselves as trailblazers who can help create a different future for their students and community.
“We need to be the trailblazers in Oregon,” she said. “We can do it here in Oregon.”
As staff moved into the day's professional learning sessions, the message was clear, which was that unlocking student potential begins with believing in that potential, continuing to learn and having the courage to work together toward something better.
Pizzuto ended her keynote with a video, showing Ponderosa and Mills staff a video of the very students they have impacted at their school.
“You’re not just changing the life of the kids you have this year,” Pizzuto reminded staff. “Look at the students you see in this video, their smiling faces. You’re changing the family tree.”
