October 20, 2022 -- It doesn’t take long to find Shady Lane’s Principal when you walk into the building. “Good Morning!” echoes through the halls as the school’s leader greets students.

“I think I always wanted to be a teacher,” said first-year Shady Lane Principal Candace Osborne. “I loved being in school and I was really good at being in school.”

Her success began in Columbus City Schools. Osborne attended Fairwood Elementary andJohnson Park Middle before graduating from Columbus Alternative High School.

“When situations would happen involving test scores or involving students and I didn’t get to make the final decision, I would always question my administrators, ‘why?’” Osborne said of her time in school. “I had an administrator who I still confide in who told me I ask a lot of questions and I should be an administrator and get that perspective.”

After high school, Osborne started her college career at Columbus State Community College, then attended Kentucky State University. She taught in Virginia for nine years while getting her administrator license, then moved back to Ohio to continue her work in education. 

When asked if she always knew that she would come back to work for CCS, her answer was a resounding yes.

“Yes, because I’m rooted in it. My father is a graduate of CCS, and he works for the District our family has always taught us to give back to those who have given to you.” 

Osborne can name every administrator she’s had during her time as a student at CCS. Now, she’s hoping her students will be able to do the same. 

“I didn’t necessarily come from a home that was perfect. My father raised me until he remarried. My grandparents were very supportive of him doing that. Resilience and adaptation are part of where a lot of our students in Columbus City Schools come from,” she said.“I feel I can relate to them.”

As she continues forward in her new role as principal, Osborne wants her students, families, and staff to know she’s here to make a change at Shady Lane Elementary.

“I am looking to be someone who sticks around in the long run and I am looking to make sure the atmosphere is set right for the students so they can be productive and can learn.”