At the start of each school year, Dr. Angie Codron, the principal of Normal West High School, sets a theme to set the tone for the upcoming year. 

This year, the theme is “Find the Awesome,” and with only a few weeks of school left, the students and staff of Normal West got to surprise their principal with one “awesome” celebration.

On Monday, May 4, Codron was presented with the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership.

At around 8:45am, students, staff, family members, Unit 5 administration, and other community members filled the Normal West IMC to surprise Codron with the honor.

 With droves of media present, President of the Golden Apple Organization, Alan Mather, presented Codron with the award, followed by speeches given by Unit 5 Superintendent, Kristen Weikle; Assistant Superintendent, Michelle Lamboley; Representative Sharon Chung; Senator Dave Koehler, among others. 

The Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Leadership is awarded to a principal or head of school who has had a significant impact on the school community through student and community growth. 

“Great school leaders set the standard for what a school can achieve. They build cultures where students succeed, and educators are empowered to do their best work,” Alan Mather, President of The Golden Apple Foundation, said.

“This recipient shows how strong leadership drives real results across an entire school community. We welcome them into the Golden Apple Academy of Educators, where their experience and leadership will help support and guide the next generation of aspiring educators in the Golden Apple Scholars and Accelerators Program in Illinois.”

Through the award, Dr. Codron received $10,000 total–$5,000 for a school project of her choice and $5,000 for her personal use. 

Through the honor, Codron will also receive coursework through Northwestern University at no cost, and she will become a member of the Fellows of the Golden Apple Academy of Educators.

“I think it’s always an honor to be able to do something that puts Normal West in a positive light, that shows the work that our students, staff, and district families put into young people so that they can get their education and so that they can represent us,” Codron noted.

Specifically with the $5,000 that will go towards Normal West, Codron plans to update the atrium space. 

Codron, who regularly has breakfast with the three past Normal West principals, recognizes that the culture of Normal West was not built in one day.

To continue that culture and to remember those that have helped form it, she plans to put the money she earned from this award to update the atrium to be known as the “Crabtree Commons,” named in honor of Normal West’s first principal, Dr. Jerry Crabtree. 

Through the highly competitive award process, the The Golden Apple Foundation committee receives 100s of nominees. Codron was originally named as one of the seven finalists in March.

She attended a banquet April 18 and knew that the winners would be chosen in the “upcoming weeks.”

The Golden Apple Committee is careful in their choosing of the winner, noting five key pillars that help them choose the perfect candidate.

“One, we want to make sure that our leaders … know their communities, respect their community, see their community as a value. We want to know that they understand what great instruction looks like and how to support teachers to get into that great instruction,” Mather said.

“We think civic engagement is really important, so how do our principals, how do our leaders help engage their schools in the community …?

“We do want to make sure that they have professional expectations, that they really understand that they are leaders in their community and act in such a way.

“But the other real big part is, how do you support educators to be better? How do you support educators to help students reach their potential?” Mather said.

Codron clearly fit well into each of the pillars, giving her the ultimate honor as this year’s winner.

And although the recognition from the award gets her a lot of attention, Codron knows that her leadership habits are simply a part of who she is.

“I think leaders who are strong in their own personal mission are able to keep the focus no matter what’s coming at them. And so I really am grounded in three parts of my mission statement. One is to leave things better than I found them, right, to just continuously improve.

“The other is to be the difference that people need when they need it, which just helps me prioritize. Does this student need me right now? Does the staff need me? Does my email need me right and then never stop teaching and coaching. And so yes, being a principal, I still teach and coach someone, something every day,” Codron stated.

To her staff, Codron has a unique leadership style, filtering every decision made for the school through student and staff success and with Normal West’s best interest always at the forefront.

“She has a different kind of leadership… She kind of coaches us up… to have us be the best that we can be… She’s always willing to let us try to do things to kind of shift, make things better,” Assistant Principal Isoke Wilson-Pridgen said.

The idea of leadership is not new for Codron, In fact, Codron’s father, Randy Patzner says she has been this way her whole life.

“She’s all about learning and learning for herself, and also setting the environment for learning for all students, teachers and even friends. She’s got a lot of friends. She still hangs with her college friends every summer. Six or eight of them go somewhere and have a get-together, and she’s always doing something about learning.

“She was a good athlete; she was a good coach; and now, she’s a good principal,” Patzner stated.

It’s this lifelong determination that has helped her unique approach to leadership.

“She knows what she wants, and she knows how to get there and to make other people help her get there, bringing those other people along also,” Patzner added.

“She has always been focused on her goal from elementary school throughout college and is skilled at bringing others along,” Patzner said.  

Codron’s guidance has not gone unnoticed by students, either, as she represents them in every way and is the cornerstone of all achievements.

“Dr. Codron is the biggest reason for a lot of the success that happens here,” Junior Jordan Stovall said.“The amount of support that she throws behind all of her students, no matter what they do, is unparalleled… the people that she empowers really help students be successful.”

Superintendent of Unit 5, Kristen Weikle, knows that Codron’s leadership is special, and also noted that it shines through the obvious love that she has for Normal West High School.

“She is the school’s biggest supporter, and I think, the most proud person of Normal West that I’ve ever met,” Weikle stated.

AJ Codron, Dr. Codron’s son who is a freshman at Illinois State University, is also very excited for his mom, emphasizing her work ethic.

“She works hard, you know, she’s here all the time, and she loves all her students,” he noted.

For Codron, this award is not about the recognition. It’s just another step in her bigger mission.

“I just want to leave things better than I found them, and to be the difference that people need when they need it,” Codron added.

For more information on this honor, please visit the Golden Apple Foundation’s press release.