Grand Blanc West Middle School

1515 Reid Road, Grand Blanc, Michigan 48439 (810) 591-7309 591-0182 FAX (810)

July 16, 2013 RE: Crystal Chapa To Dr. Christine Abbott, Oakland University: Dear Dr. Abbott, I am writing this letter on behalf of Crystal A.W. Chapa, an exceptional teacher leader and someone whom I have had the pleasure of working with throughout her coursework in the Education Specialist Program at Oakland University. As her mentor, this letter serves as my written documentation confirming that Crystal has successfully completed the 100 hours of field experience required for the Education Specialist Program Cohort through Oakland University. Throughout Crystals course work I have had the opportunity to work closely with her. We worked together in planning and implementing the activities she has documented in her Field Experience Log. We focused our planning on involving her in a wide variety of experiences we believe would provide her with the first-hand experiences she would eventually be able to draw from as an effective educational leader. As I observed her participation and leadership in the wide variety of committees I asked her to be a part of, to her partnership with me as we facilitated the last in the series of New Teacher induction meetings, along with all of the other experiences she had, her leadership skills grew stronger with each and every experience. I must also add that from the very beginning, she brought with her to this program a very strong set of leadership skills I believe have always come natural to her. Regardless of what I perceive as a natural ability, Crystal consistently looks for ways to extend her knowledge beyond the classroom and I regularly seek her opinion on teaching and learning. Through our experiences in working together I have found Mrs. Chapa to be self-motivated, driven by the success of the students, teachers/administrators she works with, and she possesses a deep intellect with an ability to see complex curricular as well as non-curricular issues clearly. As indicated by the wide variety of experiences she has worked to be a part of through her field work, Mrs. Chapa shows a deep commitment to becoming an effective educational leader. The creative problem-solving skills, deep understanding of curriculum and interpersonal relationships along with all of the experiences she has exposed herself to throughout her work at Oakland will serve her well as she continues to expand her skills as an educational leader. It is a pleasure to work with Crystal as her mentor, and I look forward to watching her success blossom. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at (810) 591-7310. Sincerely,

Jeffrey M. Neall
Jeffrey M. Neall Principal Diana K. Balbaugh Assistant Principal