Amaal Aref

It all goes for purpose. I don't work for the money, but if you work from a sense of purpose, the money will come. Everything I do has a purpose, and I work from that sense of purpose rather than for financial gain. This purpose-driven approach has been the foundation of my success.

The best career advice I've ever received is that you have to keep growing. If something isn't working, or it feels like a door is closing, it's time for change. You have to be ready for that growth that's going to come, because other doors are going to open. This advice has helped me stay adaptable and embrace new opportunities throughout my career.

I would say, be yourself. Don't try to be somebody that you're not. And then, always do what's best for you, not what's best for the organization. Because we're all very easily replaceable by whatever organization that we're working for. You know, the day that you quit, or you leave, or you have some type of issue, they just put out a hiring guide, and you're done. While you should be loyal to the organization that you're working for, you should always have a balance and also do what's best for yourself, because at the end of the day, what's best for you is going to be good for you long-term. I even tell that to my teachers when they try to leave my school. I tell them, it's okay if you think this is best for you, even though it's really sad to lose a teacher. If this is best for you long-term, then I'm with you 100%.

The biggest challenge in our field right now is student behavior. The screens and COVID has really made schooling much more difficult, because the children don't have the emotional regulation that I think we had when we were kids, because we didn't have as much technology. But the number one solution to all of that is more training for the adults on how to regulate our own emotions so that we can impart that on our kids. So while student behavior is the biggest problem facing our field, the opportunity lies in better training educators in emotional regulation.

The most important values to me are that everything I do has a purpose. And everyone around me, no matter how hectic or chaotic it can be, working at a school or being in a business environment, at the end of the day, we're all people. We all have our own challenges, whether it be family challenges, or work challenges, or you know, we all go through things. We always have to have empathy in everything that we do, especially in how we communicate with one another, because you never know what the other person is going through, so you gotta be cutting each other a lot of slack.