“I have been the principal at Murphy High School for three years and 14 years overall. I was a baseball coach and becoming a principal seemed like a natural progression that could affect more people. I am an Air Force veteran, but working customer service at Christmas at Sears is what prepared me to be a principal.

I do Panther Launches with inspiring stories and quotes every morning at school to encourage our students to have a great day. I am keeping them going on social media to stay connected with students. The Launch is the first thing I do when I wake up in the mornings. Usually with my dogs around. Whatever I feel that day is what I use to lift people up. I save quotes on my phone. Often they are sent by teachers or students. There are days I am the one who needs lifting up. Sometimes I think, ‘am I being too corny? Or am I coming across as sincere? It is coming from my heart and I hope everyone receives it the right way.

I tell students to be leaders and follow their ideas. If your dreams don’t scare you, you don’t dream big enough. Be a servant leader. Bear Bryant said, ‘If it is great, you did it. If it is bad, I did it.’

I am a relationship person. I want hugs and high-fives. Since the students are gone, more of my job is paper and computer work, phone calls, and emails. These are not the parts I enjoy the most, but as a leader, you have to be on the front of the ship, wherever it goes.

In pressure situations like this, you see how things are. I have been so proud of our teachers and students for how they have risen up. Teachers are creatively doing things they have never done. I want them to relax because everything is going to be fine. We are going to come out of this more caring all of the way around. I feel bad for the seniors. We put their pictures on billboards and are doing all we can. I remind them this is just a season of life.

I wasn’t a good teacher. I was a good baseball coach. I never believed I would be a principal and debated giving up coaching. I didn’t know until I sat in the principal chair that this is my calling. I am better when kids need me and I can pour my soul into them. I want to do this until I can’t do this anymore.

I understand kids and what they go through because I was a rough kid and did things I shouldn’t have done. I probably shouldn’t have lived past 18. I relate to kids who aren’t straight-A students and get into trouble. Sometimes I have to discipline students, but I remind them this will end. Come back and do the right thing. These are the most rewarding kids I have.

I told myself I was going to use this isolation time to get in shape, but now I realize round is a shape. I have gotten better at the parts of my job that I didn’t enjoy. My eyes hurt a little more, but my feet hurt a little less. I will be a better and more well-rounded leader. No one will say, ‘we have always done it this way.’ We are building the future now and I am excited about what will happen.

I can’t just not see my students, I can’t see my grandbabies. My granddaughter was born last week and named after my mama. I couldn’t hold her, I just saw her through the car.

I end each launch with I love you. Every time I am on the phone with my family, I tell them I love you. We all deserve to be told I love you every day. Even if students don’t hear that at home, they hear it at school from me. I love each one of them.”