Reuben Mills, Chief Executive, New Media Technology Charter

Reuben is the CEO of the New Media Technology Charter School located in Philadelphia, PA. Having inherited a school in need of help, Reuben is now turning the charter school into a leading education center and talks with us about career preparation, success, and personal growth.

Transcript

>> My name is Ruben Mills. I'm the chief executive officer at New Media Technology Charter School which is based here in Philadelphia. So we're 6th through 12, middle school and high school combination. We focus on technology, culture, arts and this year we'll be introducing stem technology to further our approach. Because I really enjoy the work that I do, I work with children each day even there's a principal on site and two assistant principals. My job is to focus on instruction, make sure that our governance is running the way that it should, that operationally we're a strong program, financially that we're strong also. So it's all about paying the bills, keeping the lights on, fundraising, so it varies from day to day. So when I'm not at the school, I'm at places like Temple University reaching out to folks in the college of education or the college of engineering to bring tutors and mentors on campus. I do a lot of fundraising also, networking with various foundations, writing grants, and just seeing how many different types of resources we can bring to the school campus. So we're a public charter school and we take students from seven or eight different zip codes across the city, so my students come from all over the place. I have some feeder elementary schools that feed into my middle school, and that means we have a very strong relationship and bond with those principals to make sure that once those students come to New Media Technology, they're safe, they're getting the right education, and that we are continuing to secure the charter. Again, we are a public charter school. We fall under the school district of Philadelphia, so we abide by the guidelines of the school district of Philadelphia but we get to do things a little bit more differently and more creatively. So chief executive officer is at the very top of the administrative. I report directly to the board. And even though I foresee the school transitioning and changing, I would like to add more schools to our portfolio, so right now I'm looking at funding, talking to the school district about renewing the charter and in the renewal of the charter I hope to expand to more campuses across the city. So I will continue to be the chief executive officer.

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