After losing both of her parents by the age of four, Para Perry grew up counting on her teachers for support. “School was the best time of my life,” she recalls. “All of my teachers showed me lots of love every day. They made me feel special and for that I am grateful.” It was her eighth grade choir teacher who inspired her to teach music, and her 11th grade English teacher who pushed her to go to college. Throughout her more than 20 years in DCPS, the past 13 of which have been spent at Amidon-Bowen, Ms. Perry strives every day to be that source of support and love for her students, saying, “I let my students know that I believe in them, and truly love and appreciate them, by treating them as though they were my biological children.” She wants and expects the best of them, constantly emphasizing “when you go to college” instead of “if you go to college.”

Ms. Perry is passionate about the importance of music and the arts to child development, pushing students intellectually while collaborating with her colleagues to infuse other content skills into the music curriculum. She is also a fixture in the Amidon-Bowen community, working closely with families to ensure that children feel supported. “We must not only serve children but their entire families,” she explains. “I tell them that I am their school mom.” She also acts as a leader on her school’s Personnel and Local School Advisory Committees, and chairs the Behavioral Team.

Through her efforts to build culture in her classroom, and to share her students’ talents with the larger school through frequent performances, Ms. Perry believes that she is creating leaders and promoting self-esteem. This is echoed by her students’ chant, which can be heard frequently in her room: “If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you better wake up and pay attention, for the time is now or never to make your dreams come true, you better wake up and pay attention.”