The Tamalpais High School Leadership programs have always consisted of ASB, Peer Resource, Wise Mentoring, and Link Crew, all taught by different leadership teachers. Tam High teacher Ms. Levine has taught at Tam for over 20 years and has consistently led the Link Crew and WISE mentoring programs, in addition to teaching ninth-grade English. Two separate Tam teachers ran the other programs, ASB and Peer Resource.
Ms. Levine has always had a true passion for the work each leadership program does,
“I have been interested in leading all the programs for a while. I, at various points in the past couple of years, have felt like the work that each program is doing is really, really important.”
Ms. Levine has always had a talent for leading and teaching, and has always wanted to teach leadership full-time. As the Link Crew coordinator for 20 years, and WISE Mentoring head for 15 years, she has loved the sense of community it has offered and working with all the dedicated Tam High leaders.
Ms. Levine is also excited about helping people see what kind of leaders they are and discover the impact they can make on the school. “One of the things that I’m really excited about this year is helping students in all of these different programs see themselves as leaders and understand what real leadership is. It’s not about planning the event; it’s about the impact that that event has on the community, so I’m really excited to do that kind of work and help the students see what kind of leaders they are.”
Tam has never had one teacher before who led all four of these programs together, until Ms. Levine. This provides each program with greater connection and unity, working more closely together than in previous years.
When asked about whether there will be more unity and collaboration now that she is teaching all the leadership programs, Ms. Levine explained: “Because I’m spearheading all four of the programs, I think there are some real opportunities to align them. For years, they’ve really worked in silos; Link Crew does its thing and ASB does its thing, and we could be so much more powerful if we collaborated more. So my hope is to build some structures and put some things in place so that the programs can communicate better and magnify the work that each other is doing.”
Milo Deberry, a Junior at Tam in both ASB and Link Crew leadership
programs, mentioned the dynamic of the programs working closer together this year, and how the change has been with Ms. Levine: “It has been a lot more cohesive and organized. She’s run Link Crew for so many years already, and now I feel like, since she’s running ASB, there’s a lot more cooperation between all of the leadership programs, so it makes all the individual processes that are happening more effective.”
The collective goal of the ASB leaders this year is to increase school spirit, which in turn leads to higher attendance at school events. ASB wants students to attend more games, dances, and all-school events in general to build a stronger spirited Tam High Community. Milo stated:
“Ms. Levine might just be the most spirited teacher at Tam, and with her help, we can get there!”
The Tam leaders are holding high hopes for the upcoming events this school year and are enthusiastic about what’s to come as they develop the Tam leadership programs.
Ms. Levine is excited to continue growing these programs this year, as well as helping Tam students become better leaders and recognizing what good leadership looks like. Ms. Levine also revealed that all these programs receive far more applicants than there are spaces in the programs, which showcases the enthusiasm for leadership and making an impact on the community.
Tam High recognizes Ms. Levine’s energy and commitment to these programs, and we thank her generously for continuing to put heartfelt effort into making our leadership programs thrive.