A Journey Through Self, School, and System: How a Three-Year Fellowship is Transforming School Leaders
As The Mind Trust celebrates two decades of empowering students, educators, and communities across Indianapolis, one program stands out for its personal and transformative approach to leadership development: the Emerging Leaders Fellowship (ELF). Rooted in the belief that exceptional schools are built by exceptional leaders, ELF equips rising school administrators with the tools, confidence, and self-awareness needed to drive systemic change.
Among the fellowship’s current participants are two extraordinary educators, both at different points in the program. Ciara Jones, Principal of Avondale Meadows Middle School, is in her third and final year, while Alex Stowers, a K–8 Assistant Principal at Christel House Academy South, just started the fellowship in 2025. Jones and Stowers joined ELF for different reasons, but they share a common purpose: to become the kind of leaders who change what’s possible for Indianapolis students.
Finding the Fellowship — and Their Voice
Jones discovered the Emerging Leaders Fellowship by chance on social media. The idea of professional development designed specifically for school administrators appealed to her – and it filled a gap she had been feeling acutely.
“[School administrators] pour into others constantly,” she said. “We water everyone else, but leaders like me need help growing, too.”
Stowers learned about ELF through his CEO at the time, Emily Masengale, who is a trusted mentor.
“She recommended I apply because she knew how much I value learning from other leaders,” he said. “When I realized there was a $10,000-per-year investment into our development, I took it seriously. I wasn’t prepared for just how much I’d learn.”
Recalling his previous experiences with professional development, Stowers underscored something many fellows mention: ELF’s professional development stands apart. “This fellowship has been intentional, timely, and immediately useful,” Stowers said. “I’ve used something from every single session.”
A Fellowship Rooted in Self-Awareness and Community Impact
One of ELF’s differentiators is the Self, School, System framework, which starts with the heart of school administration: leaders’ why. The program begins by helping fellows tap into their identity and self-awareness, before delving into the technical and adaptive skills needed to excel and ending with how leaders can expand their influence beyond school walls.
Jones called her first professional development session “soul work.”
“I wondered, ‘Why are we thinking about ourselves?’” she said. “But then I realized that if I don’t know who I am, such as my identity or my biases, how can I lead others?”
Jones’ “why” is deeply personal.
Raised in an underserved community in Muncie, Ind., Jones carries her lived experiences into her leadership every day and gains motivation from the students who remind her of her younger self.
“Our school sits in an area that’s a food desert,” Jones said. “My students and their families need stability and opportunity. They also need to see Black excellence, and I am willing to be that example.”
Stowers, still early in his Fellowship experience, is already seeing tangible changes. He credits practical tools like knowledgeable organizers, feedback structures, and pulse checks that help him monitor both teacher growth and his own.
“Everything has improved—how I prepare for meetings, how I track data, how I coach teachers, even my tone,” he said. “This experience has made me so much more intentional.”
Finding Strength and Power in Community
The relationships that fellows build with one another bind together what they learn through the program. Jones has found it especially powerful to connect with the women in her cohort and grow with them as leaders. She teared up recalling the depth of their relationship over the past three years.
“It’s a sisterhood,” she said. “We come from different backgrounds—we are Black, Latina, white—but we ground ourselves in why we’re here. We trust each other. We support each other. And we can be fully ourselves.”
Both leaders were clear: without The Mind Trust, Indianapolis students and schools would lose something essential: transformative personal growth resulting in transformed schools.
Stowers says, without a doubt, the Fellowship experience has contributed to his exponential personal and professional growth. “Before the Fellowship, I rarely received meaningful feedback,” he said. “Today I’m a different, and better, leader.”
As The Mind Trust enters its 20th year, leaders like Jones and Stowers fuel the future of excellent education in Indianapolis. They embody the belief that leadership is not about titles. It’s about purpose, identity, accountability, and unwavering commitment to students.
Their journeys remind us that when we invest in leaders, we invest in the communities they serve. And through programs like the Emerging Leaders Fellowship, The Mind Trust continues to multiply its impact—one leader, student, and school at a time.
“We need The Mind Trust because school leaders would not be holistic without it,” said Jones. “Sure, we would have competent leaders, but not connected, community-centered, mission-driven ones.”