For Toni Molina, principal at James S. Hogg New Tech Center, a person’s legacy is the impact they make on others. “I always look at our students and tell the staff that every day they come in, they’re part of somebody’s history,” she said. “As educators, we don’t see it like that because we’re in the thick of it, but that is what we’re doing. “We’re changing somebody’s history every day we show up.”
Molina speaks from experience. A graduate of Dallas ISD, she credits her education– and the opportunities that came with it– for changing the trajectory of her family’s life.
“The first teacher I can actually recall is my first grade teacher, Ms. Welsh,” she said. “She really made me feel safe. Given the background I came from – we were very poor – and I didn’t always feel like I belonged. I never felt like that in her classroom.”
Molina started school at Gabe P. Allen New Tech Academy (formerly Gabe P. Allen Elementary School) and graduated from Moisés E. Molina High School.
Now, all three of her children are products of Dallas ISD, establishing a different kind of legacy within the school district. Two of her children graduated from Molina, and her youngest daughter is a freshman at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
“My parents got their GEDs, but they didn’t go to college. The progression, not only for myself but my children, Dallas ISD has been part of that change,” she said. “Our legacy is different now. We have a Hispanic man who graduated from college. He’s the first from my maternal side of the family to do that.”
Growing up, Molina wanted to be an accountant. But she quickly realized her heart was setting her on a new path that would take her back to Dallas ISD to be a teacher, and eventually, a principal.
“I had some office jobs, but they weren’t for me,” she said. “When I got out of high school, I started working at a private school as a pre-K teacher. I liked the pace of it, and I liked helping people.”
After some self-reflection, Molina realized her calling was to become a teacher.
“I started digging deeper into where I came from and some of the odds I had to overcome,” she said. “I started thinking about some of the teachers that were really impactful, and it made me think that’s what I’m supposed to do.”
Molina started her teaching career in private schools before returning to Dallas ISD.
“Everything was great, but I didn’t feel like I was serving my type of community,” she said.
After finishing the teacher certifications, she started her tenure in the district at Gabe P. Allen. Now the principal at Hogg, Molina finds ways to foster traditions with her students that she hopes will one day become part of the school’s legacy.
Drawing from her experience being active in sports, Molina strives to promote Hogg as one big team.
“One thing I always ask is ‘what are we’ and ‘what represents us’,” she said.
The answer to those questions lie in the school’s mascot and motto.
At Hogg, they are the Razorbacks.
Molina greets students every day, saying “good morning, Razorbacks” and finds other ways to foster meaning behind the Razorback community in Hogg.
“This year, we’re really focused on what the characteristics of a razorback are,” she said. “If you ask our students, it means we’re resilient, we’re tenacious. We don’t give up.”
