Hopkinton Middle School Assistant Principal Running In Boston Marathon

HOPKINTON, MA - Chris Ocampo, the assistant principal of Hopkinton Middle School, takes positive steps forward in everything he does, whether it's working with students or volunteering in the community.

Now the Framingham resident is also making strides for a more inclusive Hopkinton by running in the Boston Marathon on April 18 to support the Hopkinton Freedom Team.

This is Ocampo's second time running this marathon. He first participated in 2019.

"At that time, I was fighting a knee injury," he explained. "Ultimately I ended up finishing it, but it took me about seven hours and 23 minutes."

Ocampo wanted to try the course again now that the marathon is back to being run in its traditional format in April. When the Hopkinton Freedom Team, a nonprofit focused on diversity and inclusion of which he is a member, approached him, Ocampo stepped up to help raise funds on its behalf.

"I gladly took the offer because it's an organization I hold pretty dear to my heart," Ocampo said. "The next day I bought a new pair of running shoes and then immediately jumped into the training. It really is an organization that brings people together, and it helps promote equity in the community."

He added that he also is involved in the school district's work on diversity, equity and inclusion policy, so the nonprofit aligned with his personal and professional goals.

"I've just really learned the importance of a group like that and their importance in the community," Ocampo said.

Usually runners train for 16 to 18 weeks, he noted, but because of Ocampo's schedule and continuing physical therapy, he is training for 12 weeks.

"My whole goal is not to get injured again," he said. "But if I have to crawl across or walk across the finish line, by all means that's totally fine. More importantly, I want to raise enough funds to really make a difference for the Hopkinton Freedom Team."

One of the traits that fuels him, he said, is his "don't give up mentality."

While Ocampo said he has always been an athlete, he picked up running later in life. In school, he was on the soccer and basketball teams and ran track when he was in high school.

"I don't really like running, and I somewhat dislike it," he said with a laugh. "But I view it as a challenge that I know that I can do. I certainly want to push the limits of what my body can do but also what my mind can do. I think it takes a lot of mental stamina to be able to complete something like that, so I have enjoyed the challenge."

This has been a challenging time for the district as well. There have been some allegations of racism at the middle school. A couple of weeks ago, the boys' locker room at Hopkinton High School was vandalized and had to be locked after school because of what Principal Evan Bishop called destructive behavior.

"I think that we have to confront it when it's there," Ocampo said, noting that this is his second year as the middle school's assistant principal. "Regardless of whether it's in the schools or in the streets or in any of the businesses - anywhere there is racism - I think that we have to have discussions about it."

With every step, he has the goals of the Hopkinton Freedom Team in mind, he stressed.

"Their work is very much about bringing people together," Ocampo explained. "And combatting racism is something that I fully support. Being in the schools and embedded in the schools, I'm proud to be able to run for an organization that is kind of an extension of what we do here at the school to try to combat racism and address some of the issues that we're having in the community."

He added that having a partnership with the community is critical because some problems arise outside of the classroom with social media influences such as TikTok challenges.

"We need to be able to work together and bounce ideas of each other," Ocampo continued. "I think we're all learning and all trying to grow. But it doesn't take one person; it takes a community."

Being an assistant principal was not an original goal of Ocampo, who earned an undergraduate degree in business.

"My original goal was to make money," he joked. "But then I chose a profession where you don't."

Ocampo's first job after college was as a one-to-one paraprofessional at Framingham High School, which changed the course of his career.

"I remember sitting in a class, watching a teacher do her thing and really admiring what she was doing," he said. "As I examined what she did, I said, 'I think I can do that.'"

That same year, he went back to school to pursue a master's degree in education. He ended up working in Framingham High School for about a decade as a long-term substitute teacher as well as a special education English teacher. He then earned an administrator's leadership license.

"I was looking for a community where I felt I could make a big impact," he said of his decision to work in Hopkinton. "Granted, Framingham is much different from Hopkinton in terms of the community - the makeup, the buildings, everything. But it's very similar to the community that I grew up in, which is Maynard.

"When this position opened up in Hopkinton, I kind of gravitated toward it because it was like I was coming home," he explained. "I wanted that hometown feel, that small-town feel. And I'm thankful for it."

Ocampo's students also have been engaged in his journey, asking him how his training is going and offering encouragement.

To donate to Ocampo's fundraiser, click this link.