By admin 
The Sacramento Bee and Nehemiah Leaders Programs are celebrating this year’s 60 Change Makers. Join them at our gala at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13 at the Grand Sheraton in downtown Sacramento. Buy tickets at sacramentochangemakers.com.
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Shana Henry sees opportunity in every student she meets.
Henry first got involved with education working as a substitute teacher in the Del Paso Heights neighborhood. She then became a teacher in the Sacramento City Unified School District, and later, a principal.
“Every student deserves the absolute best, regardless of race or zip code,” Henry said. “I’m going to go to any school and believe in that and create the spaces where people feel like they are welcome and connected.”
Henry is now a director of secondary education at Elk Grove Unified School District, where she supervises schools and supports principals. She also serves as president of the Association of California School Administrators’s Sacramento and Yolo region.
Through her work, Henry discovered a gap: There was no organization dedicated to supporting Asian American and Pacific Islander educators. So, she helped found and became president of the California Association of Asian and Pasifika Leaders in Education.
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The organization hosts conferences, seminars and a mentoring program to help educators promote into leadership roles. Henry said the organization, particularly the annual conference, have created a “special” space where people can find community.
“There are no conferences where you walk in a room and everyone looks like you, and that alone can be so powerful,” Henry said. “I didn’t know we were creating an experience of healing.”
Henry said her dedication to helping others comes from her parents, both immigrants who instilled in her a love of education. Her father had just $20 to his name when he immigrated to the United States, she said, and her mother never lived out her dream to be a doctor.
“Any of our kids anywhere can be anything they want to be if someone just puts time and belief into them,” Henry said.
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