Education Major on the Move

Susan Vasquez '87

Susan Vasquez ’87 is a true mover and shaker in the field of education.

When she was named principal of Landrum (SC) High School in 2003, she became Spartanburg County District One’s first female principal. As a teacher at Landrum High, she was named the district’s teacher of the year in 1998, tapped to travel to Japan in 1996 as part of Rotary International’s Group Study Exchange program to examine that country’s approach to education, and was named to the Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers listing on three separate occasions. As a consultant for the College Board’s English Vertical Team, she trains school representatives at the district, state, and national level for developing and maintaining vertical teams.

This June, she will leave her post as principal of Landrum High School in June to join the staff at the Spartanburg School District One offices as coordinator of curriculum and instruction.

What makes these accomplishments even more impressive is that after earning her bachelor’s in sociology from Clemson University in 1982, Susan seemed to be set for a career in social work with the Department of Social Services. “After working with DSS for three years, I realized that social work was not my calling,” she said. She became a student once again, and earned her master’s in secondary English from Converse in 1987, and her master’s in administration from the University of South Carolina in 1999.

Susan is garnering accolades for her work with the College Board’s English Vertical Team. “A vertical team is a group of educators from different grade levels in a specific discipline working together to develop a curriculum that will help students progress properly. For example, an eleventh grade math teacher will have input on what aspects of mathematics a ninth grade student should be learning,” she explained.