Details

First Name	Tracy
Last Name	Bousselot
Pronouns	she/her
Nickname	Tracy
City and State	Eugene, Oregon

Journey

I'm here because	Why me? I didn’t expect to become an educator, really. My background and passion is in science, specifically biology, but when I was in grad school in Texas, I took a job as an IA for an undergrad Botany course. Turns out not only was teaching and broadcasting my enthusiasm for cool science things fun, but I was good at it. Getting to share that excitement about bugs and photosynthesis and symbiosis with young people, especially with students who are historically underrepresented in science, was a privilege that I looked forward to every day. Why this? As I came to understand more about the systems and structures in schools, and how they are all interconnected, I was committed to continuing to find ways to learn about and help schools support all students in their educational journeys. My work with Portico allows me to combine my practical background in schools and my research experience to listen to administrators and coaches, in the hopes of translating and communicating ideas and lessons within the educational ecosystem. Why here? The concept of community is central to success in education in so many ways. Portico allows groups of people to really connect and share and learn, to build a trusted small community that can then connect and share to a larger community. Portico really brings together a variety of ideas and experiences and resources in a unique way, whether it is leaders from very small rural schools or large urban schools, and emphasizes the importance of shared similarities AND important contextual distinctions. Why now? Even before the pandemic, the challenges facing public schools in this country were becoming more apparent. We are now at a crossroads in terms of understanding what students will need to resume their educational pathways and to find individual success after secondary school, given the fast-moving changes in a rapidly-evolving global society.
I got here through	I believe that perseverance and flexibility have been the characteristics that have helped me the most through life transitions and my own journey. As with most people, there have been many forks in the road, changes in plans, and unexpected hurdles to navigate. However, accepting the changes when needed, while also maintaining a sense of purpose and momentum, are skills that allowed me to still achieve many of the goals that I have set for myself, and still have for the future.
My hope for this community	This year, I am hoping we will be able to support positive movement toward school leaders’ goals and that school leaders will get a chance to try out some strategies they were not able to do given COVID restrictions. I also am excited to continue to grow connections between school leaders both within and between Portico cohorts.
I can support you with	Having been part of the roll out of the Portico experience across the past few years, I have many stories and resources from across school types I am happy to share. Also, my role on the Edulytix team, along with this team, provides me with strategies around research and evaluation, from specialty topical areas (e.g., teaching and learning strategies, creativity, online PD, CTE, etc) to instruments for measuring specific outcomes.
My story	I’ve been at Inflexion now since 2013, where I began working on a multitude of projects while I was still finishing my PhD at the UO. I was attracted to a lot of research and evaluation work that was being done around multiple pathways to student success, especially STEM identity, CTE/multiple pathways to post-secondary success, and supporting diverse populations of students. I also knew immediately that the core values of Inflexion (then EPIC) aligned with my own in terms of education philosophy.

Tracy Bousselot