Frank Mikkens
Revson Fellow 2001-2002
Principal
Boys and Girls High School
Frank Mickens, who has been the Principal of Boys and Girls High School in Brooklyn for seventeen years, inherited that institution when it was infamous for its failures and turned it into a school that now sends 85% of its graduates on to college. His career in public education spans thirty-four years during which he has served in several capacities, as teacher, dean, basketball coach, assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent. Born and bred in Bedford-Stuyvesant, he is himself a product of the New York City public high school system, and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School. Mr. Mickens holds a B.A. from State University in Potsdam, an M.A. from New York University, completed post graduate studies at Columbia University, and attended the Principal’s Center at the Harvard School of Education. He has also been awarded an Honorary Degree of Letters by Medgar Evers College. With a student body of over 4,000, Boys and Girls High School serves students from seven of the toughest housing projects in the country, creating a safe environment for learning and providing innovative programs during and beyond regular school hours. In recognition of its success, the school has been featured in the Metro section of The New York Times and The New York Times Magazine. Somewhat controversial in his methods, but widely recognized for the school’s achievements, Mr. Mickens has addressed the issue of initiatives for young people in appearances on CNN, the Today Show, the McCreary Report and the McNeil-Lehrer News Hour. Mr. Mickens in the author It Doesn’t Have to be This Way, a handbook on urban education, and producer of the video documentary Whose Kids? Our Kids: Urban Education that Works. Inspiring students to achieve by implementing ambitious incentives, Boys and Girls High School prides itself on the fact that more than twenty former graduates have returned to work as teachers in the school. Mr. Mickens is currently working on his second book, My Way: The Leadership Style of an Urban High School Principal.
(The Revson Fellow’s biography that appears above was last updated in 2001. Revson Fellows may update their biographies on this site by sending email to: revson@columbia.edu)
My fellowship year provided me with the opportunity to test myself in new ways by engaging in academic studies and thinking more deeply about the issues with which we struggle on a daily basis. Taking the time to stretch myself intellectually has been incredibly rewarding, particularly within the context of the fellowship. I was honored to be a part of this cohort, all of the fellows were wonderfully supportive and interesting people and it was a gift to meet and work with each of them, as well as the Revson staff. It has been a wonderful year and I feel reinvigorated about my work as well as looking forward to continuing academic studies.
