LEADING with LOVE in the Philadelphia School District
By : Lauren Yancer
Playing baseball his whole life , Renny Lajara , PhD ’ 02 , ’ 08 , ’ 17 always loved teaching the kids in his neighborhood to play .
“ I just had a love for children . I love seeing their smiles and being able to show them new things and inspiring them ,” Renny said .
In high school , Renny and a neighborhood friend , Gregory Tony , had big dreams of getting out of North Philadelphia and attending Florida State University to walk onto the football and baseball teams . After graduating , they bought plane tickets and flew to Tallahassee where they enrolled in a dual enrollment program with Tallahassee Community College .
After completing his first semester , Renny was homesick and returned home . Gregory made his dreams come true of walking onto Florida State ’ s football team , and was later elected as the first African American Sheriff of Broward County in Florida .
When Renny returned home , he joined a summer baseball league . One of his teammates was being recruited to play for GMercyU , and former Head Coach Paul Murphy attended one of the games .
“ I remember I had a great game that day and Coach Murphy asked my friend about me . He said ‘ who is that
22 TODAY kid ?’” Renny recalled .
After the game , Coach Murphy asked where Renny was planning to attend school and invited him to visit GMercyU ’ s campus .
“ I remember saying to a friend , ‘ I don ’ t think I ’ m smart enough to go to that school ,’” Renny said .
Despite his fears , Renny visited GMercyU and was planning to begin his college journey in the spring of 1999 but before the semester , Renny visited his brother in the Dominican Republic and stayed longer than anticipated , pushing his start date back .
“ I was afraid , to be honest with you . I was really afraid to come to GMercyU and start because I didn ’ t think I was going to be good enough ,” Renny shared .
After returning home from the Dominican Republic to his gritty , dangerous neighborhood of Philly , reality set in . Renny realized that if he didn ’ t go to college right then , he could get hurt . Or worse .
He called Coach Murphy immediately and was put in contact with the Office of Admissions , who told him his grade point average ( GPA ) was not high enough for him to enroll .
Renny told the admissions counselor that he needed to enroll before something bad happened to him on the streets . Stunned into silence , the counselor said he would see what could be done . Dr . Lorraine Cavalier , Dean of Students at the time , gave Renny the shot to come to GMercyU .
“ I knew that this was my only opportunity to get a better life and become an educator like I wanted to do . I wasn ’ t going to mess that up and I was very regimented . There were a lot of people that helped me learn how to write papers and learn how to study because I didn ’ t know how to do any of that ,” Renny said .
Building Brighter Futures in North Philly This year marks Renny ’ s 20 th year in the field of education . Fifteen of his 20 years have been spent in the School District of Philadelphia .
With the growing need for Latino administrators , Renny was accepted into the Academy of Leadership in Philadelphia Schools ( ALPS ) program . Within the program , Renny was paired with an experienced principal , working full-time at the chosen school .
Before the program ended , Renny was asked to become the Assistant Principal at Hunter Elementary School , the same school he attended as a child . It was a full-circle moment for Renny .
After his time at Hunter Elementary , Renny served as Principal of John B . Stetson , a school that was on a persistently dangerous schools list