S UMM E R 2 0 2 2 | 1 9 Principal Richard Gordon IV greets a student at Paul Robeson High School in Philadelphia. Richard Gordon IV grew up in poverty in Camden, New Jersey. The male fgures in his family were “sometimes on the wrong side of the law,” involved in drugs or other criminal activity, he says. His parents divorced when he was 8 years old, and he was shipped from home to home. In high school, he spent several hours each day traveling beyond his neighborhood to a safer, better school. Today, Gordon ’07G leads Paul Robeson High School for Human Services in Philadelphia, where his work as principal earned him recognition as the 2021 National Principal of the Year by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. That followed his selection as 2020 Pennsylvania Principal of the Year. Gordon is among a growing list of award-winning leaders to emerge from Lehigh’s educational leadership program. And as a Black man, his role in a leadership position is important, educators say, especially in schools where the student population does not always refect the makeup of teachers, staf and administrators. “When you have more teachers of color, you do have a greater chance of some shared experiences, historical experiences, current experiences, so teachers canmakemeaningful connections,” says Floyd Beachum, professor of educational leadership at Lehigh and co-author of School Leadership in a Diverse Society: Helping Schools Prepare All Students for Success. “That’s a huge beneft.” Many of Gordon’s students are growing up in circumstances that mirror his past. “When I walk through the halls here at Robeson High School, and I seemy students, I seeme,” Gordon says. He credits Lehigh’s educational leadership program for many of the successes he has had in leading a high school that has become amodel for theCity of Philadelphia, but he says it’s also his early experiences that have aided him in his career. “I see myself having grown up with the same challenges and the same obstacles that a lot of our students experience every day,” Gordon says. “And I’m hoping that my personal story, my personal experiences, provides the opportunity to teach students how to overcome, how to adapt, how to adjust so that you can be the best version of yourself.” He says he understands he’s likely the frst male educator many students entering his high school have seen, and he’s proud to be a rolemodel. “I’ve had my brushes with the criminal justice system, like some kids have, and unfortunately, sometimes it can be unforgiving for a lot of our students,” Gordon says. “I share all these experiences with my students, let them know, ‘I’m just like [them].’ “But at the same time, the way that society is currently set up and the way that we’ve grown up, we have to also understand it and embrace the idea and accept the fact that we can’t allow excuses to get in the way of being successful. And so I SCAN TO WATCH think that being a Black male educator holds a GORDON’S special placewithmy students, withmy families, VIDEO and knowing that, they see something that they INTERVIEW don’t get a chance to see every single day.”
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