Open High School Principal Priscilla E. Green was the first one in her family to attend college.

"She decided to go and went. She made her own way. She worked her way through school," said her friend Donna Dockery, assistant professor of counselor education at Virginia Commonwealth University. "She valued education, believed in education and pursued it."

The 56-year-old principal pushed her students toward achievement. After Open High passed every Standard of Learning test in 2007, "she made little tags that said things like '100% English' and '100% science' and went around wearing them. The kids got all excited about it," said Ram Bhagat, a chemistry teacher at Open High.

When her students learned early yesterday that she had died of breast cancer Wednesday night in a local hospital, many were devastated. That was before they began applying the adage Ms. Green had used to such advantage.

"She used to say, 'We have to lick those SOLs.' They are very much of the mindset if they don't reach for excellence, Priscilla would be angry with them," said Candace Chaplin, a history and social studies teacher at the school.

"She was very much about excellence, wanting her students, her staff, her school to be really exemplary. As an academic leader, she was outstanding. She was very much like a parent in some ways. She was willing to do what was needed, a tough-love kind of approach."

Yesterday, students created a wall in her honor, writing and posting comments and reflections, Bhagat said. "They said things like, 'I got in trouble today, but I know you love me.'"

As a principal, her door was open to students and staff. "Everybody talked to Priscilla. She was there for everybody," Bhagat said. "Students confided in her and talked to her."

Ms. Green knew when students' personal lives were going badly. She made sure teachers knew enough, without betraying confidences, to take those circumstances into account when dealing with students, Bhagat said.

The Richmond native earned a bachelor's degree in English education and public speaking from Norfolk State University in 1975 and a master of education degree in administration and supervision of instruction from VCU in 1985.

She began teaching at John F. Kennedy High School in 1975 and moved in 1982 to Richmond Community High School, where her positions included lead teacher and chairwoman of the English department for six years.

She taught and was director of the advanced placement program and research program at the Governor's School before returning to Kennedy (which has since merged with Armstrong High School) in 1995 as assistant principal. She became principal at Open High in 1999. She recently announced she would retire at the end of the school year and was on medical leave.

Throughout her career, Ms. Green fostered a school-as-family culture, colleagues said. During her years as a teacher, she would visit students at home, sometimes bringing students who were playing hooky to school. She had once helped a student who was hospitalized for a year to keep up with school work so she graduated on time.

"The culture of our school is that teachers do whatever it takes for students to succeed. She would go above and beyond what most teachers would do. That's what we do for students. There's going to be an outpouring of love for her that's going to be a testimony of how she impacted students," Bhagat said.

"At graduation ceremonies, students would publicly thank her and say if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't have graduated."

Survivors include a son, Patrick Green; a fraternal twin sister, Patricia Green; and two brothers, Wilbur Green and Thomas Green, all of Richmond.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete last night.