Lisa Carlos, right, gets a hug during a school assembly Monday where she was announced the winner of the Golden Apple award for Excellence in Leadership. Carlos is principal of Plainfield Elementary School in Des Plaines.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Plainfield Elementary School Principal Lisa Carlos returned to the Des Plaines campus from lunch Monday to discover she’d won a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership.
She got the news from Plainfield’s 200-plus students, who’d gathered in the gym to surprise Carlos with cheers, claps and celebratory signs.
Calling them her “darling dears,” a visibly emotional Carlos thanked her young supporters for their role in her landing the prize.
“This award is all about you,” Carlos said. “I would be nothing without you.”
The Golden Apple leadership award honors exemplary performance by an Illinois principal or another school leader. Two are being awarded this year.
As a leadership award recipient, Carlos will receive a $5,000 prize, and $5,000 more will go to the school to fund a project of her choosing.
Golden Apple awards honoring outstanding teachers will be awarded over the next two weeks.
Carlos has led the staff at Plainfield Elementary since 2018. Among other accomplishments, she’s played a key role in the school’s English learner and bilingual programs, according to the Golden Apple Foundation.
Des Plaines School District 62 Superintendent Michael Amadei sneaked Carlos out for lunch Monday so the students, their teachers and Golden Apple representatives could gather in the gym. From the wide-eyed look on Carlos’ face when she approached the room, there was no doubt the covert efforts were successful.
“Oh, we got her real good, didn’t we?” Amadei asked the students. “She didn’t see that coming at all.”
Carlos’ husband, Prudente, and her parents, Kate and Terry Bucciarelli, were there for the award presentation, too. She hugged them — and a few other people — before making her remarks.
Carlos called being Plainfield’s principal her greatest joy and deepest honor.
“I am so grateful,” she said.
Carlos was among the six finalists for this year’s leadership prize. The other winner hasn’t yet been publicly identified.
Lisa Carlos, principal of Plainfield Elementary School in Des Plaines, reacts with surprise Monday as she enters the gymnasium, where students and staffers gathered to celebrate her Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
Plainfield Elementary School Principal Lisa Carlos shares a special moment with her father, Terry Bucciarelli, after learning she has won the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership.
John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com