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About Principal Lang
Greetings Wolfpack!
I believe becoming the Principal of Charlotte East Language Academy was a sort of destiny that was in the making long before I ever came here! I moved to Charlotte from Pittsburgh, PA in 1999 to begin my career in education as a teacher at Thomasboro Elementary School. While there, I worked on my first Masters Degree in Teaching English as a Second Language because I saw how many families were moving to Charlotte and was excited to be able to serve them. I launched Thomasboro’s first ESL program and worked as an ESL teacher for a year, but missed having my own classroom so I moved to Albemarle Road Elementary just down the street from CELA. There I worked as a classroom teacher serving more families learning English. I taught there for about six years and fell in love with the East Charlotte community! I collaborated with the school’s leadership to advocate for better school conditions for our students and one of my second grade students even spoke before the school board about why the community needed a new and better building!
At this point, I began to feel like I wanted to expand my impact past my classroom and began my path toward educational leadership. I transitioned to a job as an instructional coach for the district. For about six years, I led a team of coaches that provided professional development for over 6,000 teachers on how to serve students who are learning English in their classrooms. I am very proud of the work I did to make sure that every teacher in CMS understands that it is their job to help students learn language, not just the ESL teacher’s job. While there, I studied and received my second Masters Degree in Educational Leadership.
But, the call to serve my community kept ringing in my ear, so I returned to the school house as an Assistant Principal. I began at Sterling Elementary where over 65% of the students’ families are Spanish speakers. About two years later, I heard that my dream from my days at Albemarle Road was coming true, and that a new relief school was opening up! Even better, it was going to be a Dual Language Immersion school, which I knew to be the most effective way for students to learn language, so I couldn’t resist the amazing opportunity to “come back home.” I worked under the founding Principal, Carmen Concepcion, as her Assistant Principal for three years before becoming the Principal in 2021. I consider CELA my home, our staff and students, my family, and our community as the village that we all need to support us every day. Thank you for allowing me to have my dream job!
