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National Principals Month Profile: Arts Impact's Erica Dodson
October 11, 2022 -- Erica Dodson always dreamed of becoming an elementary educator, but reflecting on her past, she never intended to become a principal.
“I went to school for elementary education and thought I was going to have beautiful bulletin boards and wear all those cute sweaters, but I ended up teaching at middle schools. Soon after that, I became an administrator,” Dodson said.
Dodson taught middle school art, social studies, and English Language Arts. Along the way, different leadership opportunities began to present themselves. She followed the advice and guidance of her assistant principal at the time by enrolling in an accelerated administration program at The Ohio State University.
She has a total of 24 years of experience in education, with eight of those years in Columbus City Schools and five at Arts IMPACT Middle School (AIMS).
So, what does the job of a principal entail?
“It looks like everything,” Dodson said. “It looks like a therapist, and sometimes it looks like a nurse, an instructional coach, a parent, a chef. It looks like whatever it needs to be to meet the needs of kids at that moment.”
Dodson dons many different hats – she answers phones, subs classes, feeds kids, puts on band-aids, assists children in wheelchairs, and the list certainly doesn’t stop there. She is also a YouTuber. Every day she creates a morning announcement YouTube video for the students to watch during their first-period class. She shares the videos with parents so they can be informed of what is happening within the building.
Dodson is never afraid to roll up her sleeves and do whatever work is needed because she firmly believes that a person should never be above any job.
“When you get into a principal role, you may have no idea all that it entails,” Dodson said. “There will be things you don’t know. You have to be able to tell people, ‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out.’”
Holding everyone accountable for what they should be doing, including herself, is a way Dodson leads by example. She focuses on follow-through, communication, and continuous education, and she welcomes humility with grace.
“As a person who has interns – I always tell them, ‘you’re going to learn things from me that you’re always going to want to do, and you’re going to learn things from me that you’re going to be like – yeah, I’m never going to do that,’” Dodson said. “The most important thing is to listen, learn and absorb as much as you can.”
No matter what each day brings, Dodson takes pride in everything she accomplishes – big, small, easy, or hard.
“Sometimes you have to make choices you don’t really want to make or do things you really don’t want to do – it’s just like being a parent, and I feel like a parent to so many of the artists here,” she said.
Yes, that’s right, Dodson refers to all AIMS students as “artists.” During her time as principal of AIMS, she has slowly tried to shift the culture and focus of the school back to the arts. She believes her efforts have brought the spotlight back to art education.
One way she’s accomplished that is by hosting art initiatives such as First Fridays, which brings in 20 or more different professional artists on the first Friday of every month. The school also partners with GetCr8v, an integrated creative learning and design agency, on the last Thursday of every month. In addition, all AIMS artists are required to have a digital portfolio.
“Everything revolves around giving our young artists access and opportunity,” Dodson said. “Bringing professional artists here for kids to see is such an engaging opportunity that we are grateful to provide to them.”
As an artist herself, her heart is with the arts, which plays a big role in her family life. Her 21-year-old son is a musical theatre major at Marymount Manhattan in New York City, who hopes to one day be a Broadway performer in the Big Apple.
“My first year here, he was auditioning for college,” Dodson said. “We were leaving to go to his Broadway class pre-screening auditions when I received the call that I would be at AIMS.”
She enjoys watching her son perform, as well as reading, dancing, and listening to music. During holidays and weekends, you can find her traveling the world, taking naps with her cat, Iggy, or attending concerts of all different genres.
“I listen to a little bit of everything,” Dodson said. “My Pandora station has playlists set up for my moods. If I’m going to bust out cleaning my house, I turn on 80s hip hop. When I need to calm down and focus, I listen to Sara Bareilles. If I’m in a sour mood, I turn on rap.”
While Dodson’s job as principal can evoke many different emotions, the one that leaves the biggest impression on her is the pride she feels for her students.
“The best part is watching the students become adults,” Dodson said. “I’m at the point where my previous students are adults with children that are contributing to their community in good ways. Watching them grow into nice humans that can navigate the world is so rewarding and the reason why I do what I do."