BOULDER – Holly Hultgren had a good feeling after the site visit from the National Association of Elementary School Principals last month, but she didn’t want to get her hopes up too high. A few weeks later, her students and staff paraded around the school tossing flowers in Hultgren’s path to celebrate her designation as the National Distinguished Principal of the Year for Colorado.
“I'm so pleased to have been selected,” said Dr. Hultgren. “It's an amazing honor for me and all those with whom I work.”
She will be honored in Washington, D.C., next fall in a black-tie awards banquet on Capitol Hill.
During the May 13 meeting of the Boulder Valley Board of Education, Hultgren will be inducted into the BVSD Superintendent’s Honor Roll in recognition of her NDP award and outstanding contributions to Boulder Valley School District. Media are invited to attend the meeting which begins at 6:30 p.m. and takes place in the Board Room of the BVSD Education Center at 6500 East Arapahoe Road, Boulder.
A program to recognize excellence in school leadership, the National Distinguished Principals Program was established in 1984 as an annual event to honor exemplary elementary and middle school principals. One principal is chosen annually for the honor from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
"Holly’s exemplary work has clearly set the pace, character and quality of our elementary leadership group," said Sheri Williams, Ed.D., an assistant superintendent of school leadership at BVSD and the person who nominated Hultgren for the award. "Her honor bestows pride on us all."
BVSD Birch Elementary School Principal Linda Brookhart, Ph.D., said she ranks Hultgren as “the most skillful administrator I have worked with in the past 30 years. Certainly, she has compassion, a broad perspective and deep knowledge base which are linked to finely honed organizational skills,” continued Brookhart,” but I believe her greatness comes from her unparalleled commitment to the growth of others.”
Holly Hultgren’s 35 years in the field of education include five years of teaching, 20 years as a principal, and 18 years as an adjunct professor for the University of Denver. She earned her education doctorate in 1981 from the University of Denver and completed post-doctoral study at the Harvard Principal’s Center in Cambridge, MA. Highlights of her career thus far include:
• Assisting in the design/build and opening of two new schools (BVSD’s Superior and Nederland elementary schools)
• Teaching and mentoring new administrators (both formally as professor of a principal preparation program and informally through “quiet coaching to new principals”)
• Helping make significant gains in student achievement for targeted populations at a high need school
In his letter recommending Hultgren for this award, BVSD Superintendent Chris King, Ph.D., stated, “You won’t find a better model for principals nationally than Holly.” Among the qualities King said he admires about Hultgren are her “sharp mind and well developed leadership skills, but it’s her commitment to the larger good that really separates her from the pack.”
“She could choose easier routes,” said King about Hultgren’s choice to transfer to a high needs school a few years ago, “but Holly believes that the best should serve the neediest, and she practices what she preaches.”