KALAMAZOO, MI — Sierra Prather, the new Woods Lake Elementary School principal, starts her day greeting students as they walk in the door.
“I’m in the hallway saying hello to our staff, saying hello to the kids, so that they feel important,” Prather said.
The halls of Woods Lake, 3215 Oakland Drive, aren’t new to Prather. She taught there for 15 years before becoming assistant-principal at Parkwood Upjohn Elementary School in 2022.
Th 2025-26 school year is her first as principal of Woods Lake Elementary School.
Prather didn’t always know she wanted to be a teacher. Her original plan was to go to law school. But while a student at Loy Norrix High School, she volunteered at a daycare in the school building.
“I enjoyed it so much,” Prather said.
She started with volunteering once a week. Then she was there every day. She started making lesson plans and was hooked.
The next year, she helped teach kindergarten through a “teacher cadet program” offered by Kalamazoo Public Schools.
“From then I just knew, when I go to school, I’m going to be a teacher,” Prather said.
Prather loves seeing the “innocent joy” in students when they learn something. She also likes the creative elements of making lesson plans and decorating classrooms.
Prather thought she’d stay in the classroom as a teacher. But being principal allows Prather to impact the building on a broader level. She can step into different classrooms, observe what’s happening and work with different students, Prather said.
She can also support teachers in instruction, professional development and ensuring students are supported on a holistic level.
“We have to remember that it’s just not all educational based, it’s whole child based,” Prather said. “Students might need something else before they can even start learning. That might be glasses, that might be doctor’s appointments, that might be social emotional needs.”
When parents drop off their students in the morning, Prather said she wants them to know their children’s needs are being met.
“We take them leaving their students with us to heart,” Prather said. “It’s like we’re their parent and their family while they’re away from their home.”
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