Work Hard Play Harder

By: Donaven Jones

 “You can have it all. You just have to really work hard, because great things don’t come easily.” – Katy Perry

Ms. Portley the Family and Community Specialist here at Northwest truly embodies this quote. Dr. Lane the Superintendent of Kansas City Kansas Public Schools recently recognized her for her hard work and dedication.

I sat down with her to capture her thoughts on this great honor.

 What is the award that you won?

“The award that I won is called the 5 Star Service Award it was given from the Kansas City Kansas Public School district to 11 individuals and I was one of the individuals that received it.”

When and where did you receive the award?

“I received the award March the 15^th at Northwest Middle School in the Cafeteria.”

Why did you receive this award?

“I want to read this because I actually had too look up the attributes and it says “As we strive to become one of the top 10 school districts in the nation our aim is to provide 5 star service. We judge our service on the districts value and so I believe I received this award because I bring out the best in people, I am responsible, I do the right thing, and I achieve results that matter. That’s the criteria that they submitted for those that were nominated.”

How did you feel when you received this award?

“When I received this award I was overwhelmed… I actually cried, I was very excited because I felt like I knew something was going on but I didn’t know it was that big of an award. I felt loved, my family was there, some of our students were there some of our teachers and I felt appreciated.”

Was winning the award a surprise to you?

“It was a surprise, like I said I felt like something was going on I just didn’t know to what magnitude”. At Northwest I typically feel like I should be involved in stuff like that and Dr. Mitchell and the people who put it together didn’t let me do anything. So it DEFINITELY was a surprise to win the award but I figured something was up.”

Do you think that you will win more awards?

“I do think that I will win more awards but what I do is based off of what is best for our students and our staff. I don’t do it to win awards I do it because it’s the right thing. So If there’s awards out there I do think I will win awards because my goal is to always be included and try to be the best at what I do.”

Can you tell me about people who motivate you to strive?

“People who motivate me first and for most I believe God gives me confidence to do anything I ever put my hands to. My family is a huge motivation my Mom used to teach us if anything is good when you put your hands to it becomes great. My siblings they help me be better, I also appreciate anyone who is willing to try new things, who are willing to learn and step outside of there norm they motivate me.”

Do you have faith in yourself now that you’ve won this award?

“I definitely had faith in me after the award, but I also had faith in me before the award. But winning the award motivated me to continue doing the right thing.”

What is important to you in life?

“What’s important to me in life is my relationships. My relationships with people, my relationship with God. To be successful not to be the status quo, those things matter to me. My family matters to me, you matter to me, students matter to me. My job is to be successful at whatever I put my hands to.”

Do you like working at Northwest why or why not?

 “I do not like working at Northwest… I LOVE working at Northwest, there are so many different reasons why I like working at Northwest. The first reason is that I went to school here, and as a former student I believe that the atmosphere has changed I believe that we can push our students to be great no matter what the situation is. And I absolutely love working at Northwest.”

           

Ms. Portley won this award by being a leader, working hard, believing in herself and having confidence. You can do anything that you want in life but you have to work hard and have some type of self-motivation.   Congratulations Ms. Portley.  We love you!