Schools

New Sunset Elementary Principal 'A Rising Star'

Educator made jump out of classroom and into administration to support more children.

Kuljinder Sekhon is running out of office space for the flowers she has received since joining the Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District.

Sekhon, 39, is the new principal at Sunset Elementary. She started on Oct. 1 and succeeds Candice Flint, who relocated to the Sacramento area.

"Everyone has been so welcoming," she said. "From parents, staff and students, they all have been very supportive."

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Sekhon is no stranger to educators embracing her with open arms.

After her family emigrated from Punjabi, India, to Ceres, in Stanislaus County, Sekhon, a second-grader at the time, said it was her teachers who helped her get acclimated to a new country.

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"Being an immigrant child with parents who weren't well-versed in English, I turned to my teachers. They became my guides," she said. "My teachers placed this vision of going to college and played a pertinent role in my education career and personal life. I always trusted my teachers."

One of those educators is Patricia Logan, who was a counselor at Mae Hensely Junior High in Ceres when she first met Sekhon.

Their paths would cross more than 20 years later — around 2003 – when Sekhon saw Logan at a school board meeting in Modesto.

The two were able to reconnect and developed a strong relationship, with Logan serving as one of Sekhon's mentors.

Sekhon at the time was pursuing a master's degree in educational leadership and administration, while Logan was the director of pupil services for Modesto City Schools.

"Kuljinder is a rising star and has really gone up the ranks quite rapidly," Logan said. "She's a kid magnet and is very wonderful with parents and staff – they cry when she leaves because she's so good."

Sekhon might have pretended she was a teacher while she was a young child in India, but her education career didn't begin until after she had worked for three years as a legal assistant with a law firm.

"As I grew older I was learning more about myself, and the law firm was not for me," she said. "I was getting familiar with my strengths, and I had a better understanding of what I enjoyed, and I enjoy children and people."

So she decided to pursue teaching. She earned her teaching credential from then California State University, Hayward in 1998.

While working on her credential she taught a fourth- and fifth-grade combination class at King Elementary School in Richmond, where she would stay for five years.

She then pursued a master's degree in educational leadership and administration at St. Mary's College. She graduated in May 2004.

"I wanted to expand my wings and to be able to support a lot more children," Sekhon said of her jump from the classroom to becoming an administrator.

She served as an administrator for the past five years in Modesto City Schools prior to joining the Livermore school district.

"Kuljinder brings experience, enthusiasm and a 'fresh perspective' to Sunset," Superintendent Kelly Bowers said. "In her brief tenure with us, Kuljinder has already distinguished herself as a bright, articulate and creative principal with tremendous positive energy. We are absolutely thrilled to have Kuljinder as part of our administrative team."


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