The hardworking custodian finally made it to the top after years of being a janitor at an elementary school in Louisiana. Despite beginning as a school janitor, Gabe Sonnier, the new principal’s smile cannot be stopped. He was pushed by the previous principal to return to education and obtain the qualifications he needed to become the headmaster because of his success. He started as a school janitor but was encouraged by the previous principal to go back to school and earn his way up from there by getting educated and obtaining degrees that would allow him to become the headmaster.
The new principal of Port Barre Elementary in Port Barre, Louisiana, has made the school a very happy place. Sonnier told CBS Sunday Morning that he was pleased to be able to work his way up from being a school janitor to becoming the principal of a public elementary school by beginning at the bottom and working his way up.
“The smile just wants to break out,” said the principal to CBS News. “That’s just me. That’s just me, Mr. Hartman, that’s just me.”
For the last thirty years, Principal Sonnier has worked at an elementary school. He wasn’t a teacher like most principals for the first twenty years of his career. His initial office was the janitor’s closet, unlike other leaders.
“This was my office right here,” Sonnier said. “This is a mop room.”
When Westley Jones, the school’s principal at the time, pulled him aside in 1985 and urged him to aim higher in life, Sonnier was employed as a janitor.
“He said, ‘Being a janitor is a good job, and it’s an honest living,’” Sonnier told PEOPLE. “But I taught you unlimited potential. I think you’d benefit the students better as an educator. I’d rather see you grading papers than picking them up.’”
When no one else believed in Sonnier, the principal was the exception. His faith helped drive Sonnier to continue his education so that he might one day be a principal like the legendary figure.
When Sonnier was 39, he enrolled in school again, according to Principal Wesley’s advice, while continuing to work full-time as a janitor. He would get up at 5 a.m. and work his behind off. Then he’d go to Louisiana State University Eunice and the University of Louisiana afterward for classes.
He would get back to work after taking evening classes.
“I’d finish there and then go home and do homework,” he stated. “It was hardly much rest.”
Sonnier obtained an associate’s degree in general studies from Louisiana State University Eunice in 2006. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Louisiana in 2008 and 2010, respectively. To complement his academic achievements, Sonnier subsequently accepted a master’s degree.
In 2014, Sonnier was promoted to Port Barre Elementary School’s principal. He motivated others to pursue higher education after rising from the bottom and overcoming adversity. At least five instructors decided to return to school in order to advance their professions.
“Don’t let your situation that you’re in now define what you’re going to become later,” Principal Sonnier said to CBS. “I always tell them it’s not where you start. It’s how you finish.”
