Carroll High School assistant principal Ms. Komal Panjabi shares her journey throughout the years.
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: So I was born and raised in Hong Kong, China. At that time Hong Kong was its separate place on “lease,” if you will, from the British. So I was born and raised there for 12 years. And then I moved to Bahrain, in the Middle East. So I lived there until I went to college and yeah, that’s where I grew up.
Q: Where did you go to college?
A: I did my undergraduate studies at James Madison University in Virginia. It’s called JMU and people call it ‘Just Miss UVA’ because UVA is the better school, but jokes on them, I didn’t apply there. I also did my master’s at New York University.
Q: What did you do before you became the assistant principal of CHS?
A: You might’ve heard but I was a fifth grade math teacher before this. It’s weird because I wasn’t a math teacher before I started teaching math, I was a special education teacher. I did special education for 11 years and before that, I was a lab tech and a clinical laboratory scientist in New Jersey. You know how you go to the doctor and they take your blood sample? Yeah, I was the person who evaluated that, but I left it because I’m pretty chatty, and I was getting bored there. So then I switched and did special education like I told you, and then we moved to Texas, and Durham Intermediate was across the street from my house and they were looking for a math teacher and they asked me to teach, and I did, and I loved it. I had done math for seven years and I was like, what’s next? So this job conveniently opened up at the time I was looking and now here I am.
Q: What do you hope to achieve with this job?
A: I think I want to continue supporting all the great teachers we have in this school; I want to continue supporting them and helping them in any way I can. Sometimes they feel like all they need to do is teach, and I want to make sure I can clear all that for them so they can focus on what they are best at. Another part is making relationships with the kids. I feel like it’s hard when you’re not a teacher, when it’s not your students but if I can make relationships with them then that would be perfect. The other day a kid came in here and he was looking for an assistant principal and the front desk asked ‘Which one?’ and he replied ‘The short one that smiles a lot’. And I felt really nice that a student sees me as a person who smiles and a person who is always there.
Q: Were you nervous about becoming assistant principal?
A: I was so nervous. I was so nervous because it was high school. You know I’ve never done this age group; I’ve always done little kids, so this was very nerve-wracking. And you high schoolers are just big kids. That’s what they are. They are sweet and kind, and the mistakes are obviously bigger, but again they are just a great age group. And I think that’s because everyone here has made me feel so welcome as well. All of the staff members have really done an amazing job making me feel welcome and I feel also contributed a lot.
Q: What do you plan to do in the future?
A: Honestly, I want to learn as much as I can and see where it takes me. I’m all about learning and that’s going to make me grow as a person, so yes I do want to learn. I’m surrounded by people who are really good at what they do and that’s what I plan to do as well, and then we’ll see where that takes me. I never make big plans, I just go with the flow. When it’s time for a change it will come to me. I’ll know. Right now I feel like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
Q: Since it is the end of the year, how would you summarize it?
A: I’ll say about high school you’re never bored. Every day is something new to see and experience. You just never know what day it’s going to be and I feel like that makes the days go by really fast. So I would say this was the year of learning and experiencing new things. Overall, it was a great year.
Q: Is there anything you would like to tell me?
A: I would want to say that it’s been a great year, and it’s been really an amazing experience. I just loved this year.
