The Path Reveals Itself

The Path Reveals Itself

Dr. Dalane E. Bouillion, Chief Development Officer, VLK Architects Abstract

As women in leadership, it is important to hear the stories and pathways of others. This helps to broaden our opportunities and consider alternatives to a traditional career path. My career path began as an educator, and the path revealed to me presented an option that built on my educational experiences in leadership, but led me to an entirely different vocation. However, the intersection of those two professions magically intertwine to create a powerful result in the design of schools.

The Path Reveals Itself

I didn’t initially realize until I was asked repeatedly, “How did you get your job?” that nearly my entire career in education was preparing me to do this work. What is it that I do? I serve as the Chief Development Officer at VLK Architects, a design firm providing comprehensive solutions primarily to Texas public schools. My primary role is to lead strategic groups, serving as a catalyst for inspiring firm-wide improvement. I lead our firm’s educational planning approach where we intentionally use educational philosophy to inform our practice and facilitate meaningful dialogue with stakeholders, creating a foundation that serves as the common goal to steer the project’s design. My daily conversations within the firm are based on the connections that I have with clients to bridge educational philosophy, ideologies, methodologies, and practice to that of the built environment. Simply, we want to learn from our clients using an educational lens to create shared vocabulary about teaching and learning before we design a school. It makes a difference! But how did I get here?

I began my career in Galena Park ISD as a second-grade teacher at Jacinto City Elementary School, a school that my firm was blessed with designing the replacement campus in 2020. After four years in the classroom, each year teaching a different elementary level, with a stint exploring multi-age groupings, acquiring a specialization in Reading Recovery, and completing my Master of Education degree, I was hired as the Assistant Principal at North Shore Elementary School. It was there that I became more than familiar with construction meetings, as my Principal wanted to expose me to as much as possible in preparation for the principalship one day. At the peak of construction, we had an elementary school enrollment of almost 1,100 and were only utilizing half of our existing building. The campus, festooned at the time with an educational village of portables, prompted calls from the neighborhood homeowner’s association asserting that “trailers” were unacceptable. You get the idea; there was never a dull moment.

After three years as an assistant principal, I was appointed Principal of Purple Sage Elementary School. On my first day, I received a visit from the Facilities Department to inform me that we would be “under construction” very soon. I was excited because I felt I should be considered “a pro” after my construction meeting experiences. Rather than pass these responsibilities to my new Assistant Principal, I decided to take them on myself. I enjoyed the process, and felt empowered to make the decisions with the architects that would benefit students, support the learning

environment I was trying to create, and ease traffic for my community. Those were seven fabulous years.

While Principal, I earned my Doctor of Education degree, and was offered the opportunity to serve Spring ISD as the Associate Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction. My title grew over the nine years I was there, as I also became responsible for oversight of all campuses and their senior central office area supervisors. I learned much during my time as Interim Superintendent when my friend and leader, Dr. Ralph Draper, retired. He was the one who truly made facilities part of my role and responsibilities, stating that I “had an opinion” about the learning environment, that I was responsible for the direction of teaching and learning, and ensuring the alignment of my vision with the built environment was now part of my job. I was sincerely blessed to work closely with three different architecture firms, each allowing me to learn from them, and them from me. It was a reciprocal, and—at the time-- unusual relationship, as curriculum and instruction leaders had scarce-to-no input regarding learning environments.

That changed when VLK Architects offered me the position of Educational Planner in 2015. After 23 years in education, I was afforded the opportunity to use everything I knew about children, teaching, learning, and leadership as we approached design. It has been an amazing experience. We, as a firm, have found that having an educator on the team was an overlooked opportunity. I became the first VLK Architects Principal with no background in architecture. You can imagine my surprise! Recently, I was named the first Chief Development Officer. These decisions to make me a senior leader in the firm solidifies the conviction that educators should not only be part of the design process, but also help to lead the firm with daily decisions.

I have learned many things during my development as a leader. Be a chameleon and know how to evolve and change with new environments and new responsibilities. Never burn a bridge, as you may work with a variety of people you never thought you would see again. Know your strengths, as a new role may require you to perform tasks you have not considered. Answer “Yes, ma’am” or “Yes, sir” when asked if you know how to do something, and then figure it out. Never say never, as my role now in a different vocation was not what I saw for myself. The path will reveal itself to you. Listen to your mentors, who see things in you that you cannot see in yourself. Be able to laugh at yourself, as you will make mistakes. Own your mistakes, even if they are not yours, as good leaders take blame, not credit. Believe that most every disagreement can be solved with communication. Mostly, work hard, and play hard!

Never too young to dream dreams. Position yourself to work on the planning stages of making the dream come true. It is never too late to revisit the dream and start planning which pathways you must take to get to the mountain top of success.