Dear Families & Students,

Welcome to the new school year. I hope this message finds you well and looking forward to a new school year at Mills. I’m deeply honored to continue to serve you as your principal this school year.  

Each day at Mills I marvel at our students as they embrace opportunities that teach them new skills and expose them to diverse experiences. This mindset is described by world-renowned Stanford University psychologist, Carol Dweck as “growth mindset.” When our young people develop a growth mindset, they believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. As a result, they fall in love with learning, and develop resiliency in the face of set-backs.

As a high school student, the humanities were my strongest subjects, in large part due to my strength in reading comprehension. As a child, my mother religiously enrolled her two daughters in the free summer reading programs at the library.  As a freshman high school student, I struggled with math and science, often spending long hours at the kitchen table frustrated that my problem-solving steps did not render the same answer as the back of the book.  Good teachers and a growth mindset helped change this.  By my senior year, I chose to enroll in Advanced Placement science classes.  

Today, many of our students believe that they need to be good at a skill on day one. We all know that this is not how authentic learning happens. When learning, we build on our strengths and we work on our challenges, keeping a growth mindset and the firm belief in our eventual success. This growth mindset helps all well into to our adult lives; it helps us change with the times, grow as individuals and embrace new experiences. Growth mindset helps to enrich our lives and the lives of those around us.

This belief in learning for growth is a collective belief at Mills. Last year, the Mills faculty and staff considered our values that drive our work as a school and created a vision for Mills that is based on our core belief, “Mills students embrace learning for growth. They use the power of creativity, collaborative problem solving to make a positive impact on the world.” Our mission is to ensure that we as a school provide the equitable supports and opportunities to make our vision a reality for our students. Mills is a place for all types of learners.

At Mills, we know that our community values learning, and we thank you for your support each year that helps us better serve our students. It is my deep honor and privilege to serve a community that shares this value of learning. Thank you for entrusting your student(s) to our talented faculty and staff.  

Yours truly,

Pamela Duszynski

Principal

pduszynski@smuhsd.org