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‘City of Roses’
Volume XLV
Number 27
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • July 6, 2016
Established in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Photo by M ark W ashington /t he P ortland o bserver
Carolyn Leonard, an inspiring school administrator, educator and community activist, is honored for a lifetime of work to promote peace and equality, taking the torch of
the Sri Chinmoy Oneness-Home Peace Run international relay as it moves on a 10,000 mile journey through Portland on its way to Canada and other destinations.
Spreading Cultural Harmony
Local leader
promotes peace
and tolerance
by C ervante P oPe
t he P ortland o bserver
Over the course of her career, Caro-
lyn Leonard has worked to spread cul-
tural harmony and tolerance at home and
around the world, most recently making
stops in Tanzania, India, Ethiopia, the Do-
minican Republic and Mexico to promote
peace.
The inspiring leader and longtime
Portland Public Schools administrator,
educator and community activist, joins
peacemakers Nelson Mandela, Mother
Teresa, Pope Frances and many others in
receiving the international Sri Chinmoy
Oneness-Home Peace Award.
The honor was bestowed on Leonard
when the organization’s Peace Run torch
relay made its stop in Portland June 18 on
a journey across eight different countries
and over 10,000 miles to recognize indi-
viduals on an international level that have
made waves in the ways of peace and
equality, to which Leonard has dedicated
much of her life to.
“I just was at the right place at the right
time,” Leonard says of her worldly, altru-
istic opportunities. “It’s been amazing and
it’s been a gift from God, because I cer-
tainly didn’t have anything to do with it. I
just tried to remain true to what I believe.”
The native Oregonian comes from a
black and American Indian background,
which she says aided in her ability to look
past skin color as a barrier of acceptance,
despite the state’s former and present ra-
cial gap.
“I grew up in an environment where
you try not to draw differences between
you and other people,” Leonard says.
“Any day you have to be able to release
what you have learned. You have to be
prepared to let go and embrace truth.
That’s what I’ve spent my time doing, re-
telling the truth for what it is.”
Holding various positions with Port-
land Public Schools over the last 44 years,
Leonard has used her background in mul-
ticultural education to cultivate minds in
ways outside the classroom, though she’s
also taught at nearly every educational lev-
el in over 20 public and private schools.
C ontinued on P age 4