Sept. 8, 2025

Episode 43:The Cardinal Way: Building School Culture with Bill Curry: 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year

Episode 43:The Cardinal Way: Building School Culture with Bill Curry: 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year

Send us a text Ever wonder what makes a truly exceptional school leader? Bill Curry, recently named Nebraska's 2025 Middle School Principal of the Year, offers a refreshing perspective that might surprise you. Curry's journey into education began unexpectedly when a high school crush asked for help with algebra. That simple tutoring session revealed his natural teaching ability and set him on a path through classroom teaching, college basketball coaching, and ultimately school leadership. Hi...

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Send us a text

Ever wonder what makes a truly exceptional school leader? Bill Curry, recently named Nebraska's 2025 Middle School Principal of the Year, offers a refreshing perspective that might surprise you.

Curry's journey into education began unexpectedly when a high school crush asked for help with algebra. That simple tutoring session revealed his natural teaching ability and set him on a path through classroom teaching, college basketball coaching, and ultimately school leadership. His candid admission that he secured his first principalship partly by agreeing to drive the school bus reveals a leadership philosophy grounded in humility and service—do whatever it takes to make your school successful.

At Boone Central Middle School, Curry and his team have created what they call "The Cardinal Way," a framework that transformed a struggling school culture into one of shared purpose and consistent achievement. Through intentional systems designed to withstand leadership turnover (the school has had five superintendents in six years!), they've created remarkable stability and success for students. Their approach focuses on three core values: building character, creating opportunities, and striving for success.

What's most striking about Curry's leadership is his passionate belief that credit belongs to his teachers. "They don't give coach of the year honors to coaches who coach mediocre teams," he explains. "Teachers have a way of making principals look pretty good." This perspective underscores a crucial truth about educational leadership—supporting excellence in others creates the conditions for everyone to thrive.

For aspiring leaders, Curry offers practical wisdom: identify your personal strengths, build a strong support network, and learn from mentors who've positively influenced you. Rather than trying to be someone you're not, leverage your authentic self to connect with students and staff.

Ready to rethink what makes an award-winning school leader? Listen now to discover how genuine relationships, sustainable systems, and a commitment to celebrating success can transform educational communities.

Connect with Bill Curry:

Email: bcurry@boonecentral.esu7.org

Click Here: to be a Bus Driver in Nebraska

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01:57 - Meeting Bill Curry, Principal of the Year

03:43 - From Algebra Tutor to Educator

08:18 - Coaching Basketball at UNK

12:37 - Journey to School Leadership

20:09 - The Bus Driver Cheat Code

28:05 - Building The Cardinal Way Culture

41:15 - National Conference Takeaways

51:45 - Advice for Aspiring Principals

WEBVTT

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Today I am honored to be joined by Bill Curry, the 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year.

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Bill has had a remarkable journey in education, starting as a middle school teacher at Kearney to coaching basketball at the University of Nebraska, Kearney, to leading schools through growth and transformation.

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Growth and transformation.

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He is currently the principal at Boone Central Middle School, where he and his team are making big impacts on students' lives through what they call the Cardinal Way.

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Now let's get to our conversation with Bill Curry.

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Welcome back, everybody to another episode of the Educational Leadership Podcast.

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Today I have my partner crying from Seattle.

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Yes, that's right, we met out in Seattle.

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We were driving around our electric scooters and bikes together, having a great time at the United Principals Conference.

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So today, on today's show, I'm bringing in Bill Curry from Boone Central Middle School.

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Bill, welcome to the show, hey great to be here.

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When you invited me on, I was like, well, who's going to want to hear about my story?

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But then I started listening to your podcast and, wow, you've had some really cool people on here, so I'm pretty honored that I get to be, I get to be a part of this.

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This is a cool thing you got going.

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Yeah, bill, thank you very much.

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Thank you for listening.

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I'm going to get into the very first question.

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I asked everybody that comes on this show what inspired you to become an educator.

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Well, I was in high school we were in an Algebra 2 class.

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I remember this very specifically and all of us were struggling, like this is a tough class.

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We were having a hard time understanding the concepts and this girl that sits in front of me, that you know, I kind of had.

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I kind of like, oh man, she's cute, she turns around and goes Bill, do you understand this stuff?

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And I said, yeah, I had no idea, like I'm just as much lost as everybody else.

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But I said, oh yeah, it's easy, she goes the best words ever.

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Well, oh yeah, it's easy, she goes the best words of it.

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Well, can you teach it to me?

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Yes, I can.

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And so I I took that night and I worked, I studied it, I figured it out, and then we got together on a little study date, went to the library, helped her kind of figure it out.

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She ended up getting a B on the test.

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Well, then she tells all her cute friends hey, bill can teach this stuff better than the teacher can.

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And that turned into we'd get a group of us going down to the library and we had algebra dates, we had calculus dates, we had we had count parties at the library.

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Like how nerdy is that?

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Well, we had a group of people that get together and just study together.

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That shaped my idea to go into college.

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I thought, if I can do this with my friends, maybe there's a living in it.

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And I found out I had a gift to teach.

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That's what got me into education and I've loved it, like I've just found a.

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I found a niche and I feel like I'm making a difference.

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Very rewarding and I've really enjoyed my journey.

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Hey, that's a first right.

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You got into education because of girls.

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There's a hot chick that wanted help with algebra, like I'm in.

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There you go.

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Hey, that's awesome.

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So what did you teach when you got in and once you finished college?

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What?

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What's subjects?

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So I be.

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I became a math and PE teacher is what I studied to be.

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And then I decided to get I was going to be a high school math or PE teacher.

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To get into my middle school endorsement they needed at the time I needed three different disciplines and looking at my credits, oh, I'm pretty close to social studies endorsement.

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So I had, I got my math.

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Social studies PE was what was on my teaching certificate.

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And then I student taught in Kearney at Sunrise Middle School and did a little bit of student teaching in social studies and math.

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My cooperating teacher took a job as a principal.

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They hired me to fill his spot and that's how I got my foot in the door and I became a math teacher.

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Awesome.

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Now we kind of have a little bit similar.

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I was math, PE and DORS, so I had those.

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I did a new social stay.

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I'll do three.

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I wasn't going that far, but outside of that that's kind of a unique connection that we have for sure.

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So you're in the math room, you're teaching, you know at the time.

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So what are some lessons or what are some experiences you had as a math teacher that helped you become an educational leader down the road?

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I think I just I liked the, I liked the, the idea that I was helping kids figure things out right, like just there's just that aha moments.

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There's a lot of personal satisfaction seeing kids have those aha moments.

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I think one of the things I think about is just being intentional with what matters, right, like when I, as a teacher, what do successful teachers have in common?

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They're very intentional with what they want to do.

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And when you see that those connections you're making with kids I don't care if it's teaching, if it's coaching, if it's administration being intentional with what matters, being a good listener, being empathetic, being able to give support, those things make a difference.

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That is very rewarding.

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Now you also did some coaching.

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I understand you were a basketball coach, so coaching how did that help you?

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What are some things you learned as a coach as well, to help you with your leadership?

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So just a crazy, how do you go from being a eighth grade math teacher to being the assistant women's basketball coach in UNK for a couple of years?

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What a journey, right, like I'd like to say that they saw my expertise in coaching, teaching or coaching third grade, or teaching C team girls basketball.

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And then all of a sudden but just connections it was, you know, my connections with Coach Stevens at the time was the head coach there.

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I did get to do a little bit of coaching.

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Funny story my last year at UNK we had a graduate assistant, amy Gusso, and who is now Amy Williams, who is our head women's basketball coach for the Huskers.

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And so my story is I at one point in my life we shared an office in the bottom of the health and sports center at UNK and I actually had the bigger desk because she was the GA.

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She went on the same unfortunate and is having a fantastic run for the Huskers.

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I went a different direction.

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I coached junior high girls and got myself into school administration.

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But you know what, when you're around highly driven people, when you're around people who do things at a high level, they can get frustrated with the status quo.

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And, as a leader, I've got some highly motivated, highly successful teachers.

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What am I doing to support them and helping them become even better?

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Like?

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Those are the teachers that it's easy to forget about, right, like, oh, they're good, they're doing what they're supposed to do.

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I don't have to worry about them.

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No, it's not about worrying about them or not worrying about them.

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These are people that are very good at their craft.

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What can I do to bring them more joy, or what can I do to support them and help them become even better?

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And that's what I really enjoy about leadership right now.

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It's not about who needs the help.

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It's about what can I do for everybody and how can I be that support person for the people that I work with.

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You bet.

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That's probably why you're probably middle school principal of the year as well, right?

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No, no, no.

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I think I've taken all the other applications and thrown them in the trash, so mine might've been the only one that made it across the table.

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I bet you I'm pretty sure you had some people supporting you along the way as well.

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But you know you talk about supporting teacher, especially the teachers that are really good.

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Right, what can you do to help them?

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It's just like in the classroom where you have a kid that's like excelling how do you push them to become better?

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You do the same thing with teachers.

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Like excelling how do you push them?

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They become better?

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You do the same thing with teachers.

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Yeah, we spend some time with our you know novice teachers and helping them and supporting them, but we can't forget about our seasoned teachers.

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And how do we support them?

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Because they're the rock stars and we also don't want to put more on their plate than they need just because they're good.

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So that's another thing you got to think about when you're talking about those rockstar teachers.

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We don't want to burn them out, we want to keep them.

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We want to make sure they stay right.

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Why are we giving 90% of our work to the 10% of our teachers?

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You know the great ones are highly like oh, we need somebody to do.

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We need somebody on the school improvement team?

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Oh, let's go, let's put that on their plate.

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Oh, we need somebody to do.

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We need somebody on the school improvement team?

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Oh, let's go, let's put that on their plate.

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Oh, we need somebody on an MTSS team?

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Let's ask them, because you know they're going to do a good job.

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But, like you said, I think that's a great point they don't want to put more on their plate.

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What are we doing as leaders to help them be successful?

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Them be successful.

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That's the.

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That's the.

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That's a shift in in our approach to leadership.

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That, I think, is creating some really cool opportunities that we're having here and when you think about schools that are successful.

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Listening to some of the educators and leaders that you have on your podcast, I hear a common thread about that support that you're trying to give the people that you work with.

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Yeah, but you know you went from math teacher to, you know coaching basketball and we kind of got into some of your principalship a little bit.

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But do you have a story of what motivated you to pursue becoming a principal?

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What was that journey like for you, going from the classroom into your first principal job?

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Yeah, that's a great question.

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After coaching at UNK I got a job as a math teacher at Color Middle School in Lincoln.

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It was kind of an inner city middle school.

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52nd and Vine was there for five years or so.

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Loved that job, like those kids.

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There was just a different level of need and really felt like you're making a difference.

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But teaching there I had several of my colleagues you know, they just conversations you have in the hallways and stuff Well gosh, are you going to get your admin degree?

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And there was just some people that I respected as teachers, some of the principals I worked with.

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They thought I'd do well in that role.

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Hey, have you thought about going back to getting your admin?

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So that peer encouragement when your colleagues recognize some things, that some of your skill sets that maybe would be successful in an area you listen to that right, if I didn't have those people telling me, hey, man, you should think about this, I'm not sure if I'd had the courage to take that jump I did when I was at UNK.

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I thought you know, maybe leadership's in my future, because I had a personal desire to kind of have a bigger footprint on what I could do to positively influence people around me.

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You know, as a teacher, I had a lot of influence on my classroom.

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As a principal, I have a lot of influence on all the classrooms in my building.

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That's a bigger footprint.

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That was something I wanted to do and now as a principal I've been a principal for 19 years, I get to do that but it was that reaffirming and, I think, for people getting into the business, I think you need to be listening for when people that you respect, people, you trust the mentors in your life, when they're saying things like wow, you're a really good listener, or man, I just appreciate how you approach these tough situations.

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You should think about this.

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When people are saying those things, you need to listen because they're seeing something in you and that was enough for me to make that jump.

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All right, that's a great story, yeah, when people see things in you that you don't maybe see in yourself at the time and you just get a lot of validation.

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So that's really a really neat story there, bill.

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Now, bill, you decided, hey, I'm going to go become a principal.

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What was the journey like?

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Did you have to do a bunch of interviews?

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Did you get denied a bunch of jobs?

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How did you land on that first principal ship at Shelby and Rising City?

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Gosh, that's a great question.

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I remember back then we kind of were trying to figure out where we wanted to be.

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We didn't know what that was going to look like.

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We prayed about it.

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But my job in Shelby it was the first job I applied for.

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It was the first interview I had and I got it.

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It's not supposed to be that easy, but I'll tell you a secret, and those of you that are listening to this podcast I'm going to give you a cheat code to get your first job.

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Can I do that?

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Is that okay?

00:14:18.859 --> 00:14:20.482
If I do this, yeah, go ahead.

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Okay, listen up, this is a cheat code on how to get your foot in the door During my interview at Shelby.

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It's a small school, right D1 size school.

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They're asking me questions about leadership and being a principal.

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Well, then they get to the other duties as assigned.

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Hey, I see you did some coaching in your day.

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Would you be willing to help us with some coaching?

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I said yes.

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They said, hey, we need a senior class sponsor.

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Could you do that?

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I said yes, hey, we could use a little bit of help.

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Like we need some.

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We're one period short on PE teaching, if you think I have time to do this here.

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Yes, the two board members that were in the.

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I had the.

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This was the part of the interview.

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I had two board members in the suit.

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The one guy says to me, bill, can you drive a bus?

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And they both looked at each other and laughed and I said, well, I have my CDL, so if you need a substitute as a driver, I suppose I could go down and get my sub.

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Like, I could be a sub for you, guys, I could get my bus endorsement and be a sub for you.

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They looked at each other.

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I really believe that I got the job because I said I was willing to drive a school bus.

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There's your cheat code, like be willing to do the things that other people aren't willing to do, get your foot in the door and then be faithful with the jobs that you need to do.

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Right, but I did not go to that expecting to drive a bus.

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But here I am, like I uh, I had a CDL because, as a teacher in Lincoln, my summer side gig was working at a fireworks warehouse and packing up fireworks and putting them in a budget truck.

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And then I was.

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I got a CDL so I could drive fireworks to different stands across the state.

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Very simple I'll go down and get my bus endorsement.

00:16:14.668 --> 00:16:16.073
I drive fireworks to different stands across the state.

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Very simple I'll go down and get my bus endorsement.

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I think that's what got me the gig.

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Yeah, that's one thing we have in common.

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I actually drove a bus before I became a principal.

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So one time a superintendent at my first place at Twin Rivers was like hey, would you be willing to get your CDL and bus driver's license?

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We need help with bus routes.

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And then it turned into oh, we need you to drive your football team to games, you know.

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So, yeah, I started driving buses at my first job.

00:16:47.423 --> 00:16:49.447
My dad carried over to Hershey.

00:16:49.447 --> 00:16:54.337
When I get into Omaha they were like, ah, you don't need to worry about that, but I still have my CDL.

00:16:54.337 --> 00:16:56.259
They were like, ah, you don't need to worry about that, but I still have my CDL.

00:16:56.259 --> 00:16:59.461
I'm at Hastings and they do know that I can drive a bus.

00:16:59.461 --> 00:17:01.384
They haven't asked me yet.

00:17:01.384 --> 00:17:06.647
If they said, hey, we need your help, I would do it At the time.

00:17:06.647 --> 00:17:10.891
You know we don't need it at this time, but that's kind of cool.

00:17:10.891 --> 00:17:12.292
You know we both kind of have that.

00:17:12.292 --> 00:17:14.596
So did you drive the bus?

00:17:14.596 --> 00:17:15.421
Did you do all those things that?

00:17:15.441 --> 00:17:16.203
they asked you to do.

00:17:16.203 --> 00:17:16.926
I drove route.

00:17:16.926 --> 00:17:19.443
We actually had to let a driver go.

00:17:19.443 --> 00:17:25.205
It wasn't a safe driver and it's hard to fire a bus driver when you don't have another one.

00:17:25.205 --> 00:17:31.828
And so I really struggled at that point because I had to drive the morning and afternoon route.

00:17:31.828 --> 00:17:33.961
I was driving activities.

00:17:33.961 --> 00:17:36.804
And then when do I have time for IEP meetings?

00:17:36.804 --> 00:17:38.838
When can I have my staff meetings?

00:17:38.838 --> 00:17:42.667
When do I meet with parents and kids before and after school?

00:17:42.667 --> 00:17:45.820
And so it motivated me to find another driver.

00:17:46.662 --> 00:17:48.506
But you know, I was.

00:17:48.506 --> 00:17:50.388
I love, I love driving a bus.

00:17:50.388 --> 00:17:51.777
Now, could I?

00:17:51.777 --> 00:17:55.025
Could I do that at a larger school where I have more responsibility?

00:17:55.025 --> 00:18:02.205
Probably not, but in Shelby it worked for me and I got to, I got to know, I knew where all the kids lived.

00:18:02.205 --> 00:18:08.115
I took kids home on routes, like to just kind of see that part and know where they're coming from.

00:18:08.115 --> 00:18:14.458
I think helped me in some of my conversations that I had with some of those kids and I don't know.

00:18:14.458 --> 00:18:14.919
I just.

00:18:14.919 --> 00:18:28.384
And so, small town, small world, but I'm telling you, for people that want to get their foot in the door, be willing to do what they need, just be willing to do it and then figure out a way to make it happen.

00:18:29.515 --> 00:18:33.349
Bill, I want you to kind of take us through each stop on your principalship.

00:18:33.349 --> 00:18:39.119
You started in Shelby and you ended in Boone Central as their middle school principal.

00:18:39.119 --> 00:18:44.676
So kind of tell us, hey, what did you learn at your stops along the way that got you to Boone Central?

00:18:45.998 --> 00:18:56.527
Sure, in Shelby I learned that leaders have to be willing to do anything.

00:18:56.527 --> 00:19:02.915
But I also learned you can't do everything right.

00:19:02.915 --> 00:19:05.201
Oh, we need a sub.

00:19:05.201 --> 00:19:06.423
I'll jump in the classroom.

00:19:06.423 --> 00:19:07.285
Oh, we need.

00:19:07.285 --> 00:19:09.215
We had a spill in the hallway.

00:19:09.215 --> 00:19:09.896
I got it.

00:19:09.896 --> 00:19:11.558
Oh, oh, we need you to drive the.

00:19:11.558 --> 00:19:14.324
We need you to drive the volleyball team to Clarkson.

00:19:14.324 --> 00:19:25.357
Okay, I tried to take on too much and it made it really I wasn't being faithful with the things that mattered because I was trying to do so much.

00:19:25.357 --> 00:19:28.923
So I guess my first job.

00:19:28.923 --> 00:19:35.423
I learned a lot of different parts of school and how they operated and what everything needed.

00:19:35.423 --> 00:19:44.117
But I also learned you can't do everything for everybody.

00:19:44.117 --> 00:19:45.961
I also remember you know we had a lot of successes in Shelby.

00:19:45.961 --> 00:19:49.130
There were a lot of highlights and, and you know, I got to.

00:19:49.130 --> 00:20:03.521
I remember when I, when I moved or when I told my staff that I was taking another job, I was just looking in the room during my meeting and the room was full of middle high school teachers and looking across from I I had.

00:20:03.521 --> 00:20:10.077
I've been there 12 years and in 12 years I think I had hired everybody, but maybe two or three people in that room Like those.

00:20:10.077 --> 00:20:13.923
Those are the people we're working with, like we're in the trenches day in, day out.

00:20:15.455 --> 00:20:18.746
The move to Boone was kind of bittersweet for me.

00:20:18.746 --> 00:20:22.105
I'm going to get just kind of real with you for a second.

00:20:22.105 --> 00:20:28.665
And my jump from Shelby to Shelby, rising City.

00:20:28.665 --> 00:20:30.648
Great things happened there.

00:20:30.648 --> 00:20:35.255
I got to be a part of a merger, like I got to help the community of Shelby and Rising City come together.

00:20:35.255 --> 00:20:40.607
We created or started a middle school, a small town middle school.

00:20:40.607 --> 00:20:43.561
We kept a building in rising city.

00:20:43.561 --> 00:20:45.321
There were some really cool things that happened there.

00:20:45.321 --> 00:20:48.560
All those things.

00:20:49.296 --> 00:21:09.460
The year before I applied to Boone central, I remember telling my superintendent you know, I'm just at a point where I feel like my best isn't good enough and I was so burned out, not necessarily, but just I was empty, my tank was empty and I really did.

00:21:09.460 --> 00:21:16.096
I felt like my best, I'm giving this school my best, and I didn't feel like it was good enough.

00:21:16.096 --> 00:21:17.457
I didn't know what to do.

00:21:17.457 --> 00:21:22.442
I didn't know like, am I going to be one of those statistics that you know leaders don't last?

00:21:22.442 --> 00:21:35.433
For very long I started looking at well, maybe education's not for me, prayed a lot about it, had a lot of hard conversations with my wife Thought maybe just a change of scenery would be good.

00:21:35.433 --> 00:21:37.757
So then we started looking at what jobs are out there.

00:21:37.757 --> 00:21:41.744
This one ended up being a great fit.

00:21:41.744 --> 00:22:03.204
And then from going from feeling like your best isn't good enough to having a lot of successes and getting some really cool accolades and, you know, building, kind of just building your network and feeling like you are making a difference, wow, like what a what a change.

00:22:03.305 --> 00:22:10.384
And so here in Shell and Boone, at Boone Central, you know we we've had our share of struggles too.

00:22:10.384 --> 00:22:14.257
Been here six years, been here six years.

00:22:14.257 --> 00:22:15.999
This is our fifth superintendent.

00:22:15.999 --> 00:22:19.823
My first year here we had COVID.

00:22:19.823 --> 00:22:25.469
My second year here we moved a middle school from Petersburg.

00:22:25.469 --> 00:22:27.131
It's been operating there for 20 years.

00:22:27.131 --> 00:22:47.042
The board decided to do a build and we moved everything under one building and so we closed down Petersburg middle school, you know, and brought it to Albion, and the emotions that went with that and the and the difficulties and the but to try to, you know, for the good of the district faced a lot of different things.

00:22:48.346 --> 00:22:52.345
Through that, though, I've had a great administrative team.

00:22:52.345 --> 00:22:54.261
I love the people that I work with.

00:22:54.261 --> 00:23:05.977
I feel satisfaction and reward working with great teachers, great paras, I go in and have meals with the cooks and I just I joke with them.

00:23:05.977 --> 00:23:18.546
I love the collegiality we have at Boone Central, very rewarding, like I could see myself wanting to be here for a long time because there's a great deal of satisfaction that's coming with how things are.

00:23:18.546 --> 00:23:27.875
You know what I have control over and what support I have with my colleagues and my teachers and my, my superintendent, all those kinds of things.

00:23:27.934 --> 00:23:32.921
So I don't know what the next step is, but I that's kind of it was just an interesting jump.

00:23:32.921 --> 00:23:42.132
And you know you go from teacher to college basketball to teacher to principal to principal.

00:23:42.132 --> 00:23:46.098
And then it's not just me, it's my family.

00:23:46.098 --> 00:23:49.079
My kids had to move, my kids had to make new friends.

00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:50.845
They did.

00:23:50.845 --> 00:23:52.381
They're better for it.

00:23:52.381 --> 00:23:54.823
Just kind of an interesting journey.

00:23:54.823 --> 00:24:06.369
And here we are, and now I go from nobody knowing where Shelby is to talking to you and getting to be on a list of some pretty great administrative leaders that you've talked to on a podcast.

00:24:06.369 --> 00:24:07.550
It's crazy.

00:24:08.355 --> 00:24:12.846
It's kind of awesome how, like everybody's journey, how we all cross paths.

00:24:12.846 --> 00:24:17.977
Bill, I'm pretty sure you were at shelby rising city when I was at twin river.

00:24:17.977 --> 00:24:27.281
As I was at twin river from 07 through 2012, I was the head football coach there, and so we might have crossed paths, not even know it.

00:24:27.281 --> 00:24:36.165
You know, but also, living in genoa is not far from albion either so yeah, we had our battles in river and shelby.

00:24:36.185 --> 00:24:37.106
There were some good.

00:24:37.106 --> 00:24:38.630
There were some good games.

00:24:39.392 --> 00:24:40.272
Yeah.

00:24:40.534 --> 00:24:46.428
Well, yeah, I remember coaching up in that cracker box of a gym and I just remember some battles on the football field.

00:24:46.428 --> 00:24:48.338
Oh yeah, that was good stuff.

00:24:49.099 --> 00:24:51.204
Yeah, no, it's been, it's been.

00:24:51.204 --> 00:25:03.294
Yeah, so it's kind of crazy, kind of like even us, you know, through our journeys we have probably crossed paths doesn't even really know, and until we connected at Seattle this summer, and now here we are doing a podcast.

00:25:03.294 --> 00:25:18.557
And so, Bill, this past year you were out in Seattle, you were named the 2025 Nebraska Middle School Principal of the Year Nebraska middle school principal of the year.

00:25:18.557 --> 00:25:20.162
So what I want to know is how did they break the news?

00:25:20.162 --> 00:25:22.907
How did you find out that you became the Nebraska middle school principal of the year?

00:25:23.915 --> 00:25:27.724
First of all, absolutely not on my bingo card.

00:25:27.724 --> 00:25:37.086
Right Like that is, those kinds of accolades are saved for people that have a presence at a statewide level.

00:25:37.086 --> 00:25:40.740
You know there's a handful of people and it's an.

00:25:40.740 --> 00:25:42.144
It's a tight network, right Like.

00:25:42.144 --> 00:25:50.194
We know the people that we know the names of the people that have kind of a presence or a reputation of being outstanding leaders.

00:25:51.296 --> 00:26:06.246
So I never thought this was going to happen, put in the application, wrote some things down, right, but I kind of was at a point where I felt like gosh, just even being in the conversation was pretty cool.

00:26:06.246 --> 00:26:07.666
There was one.

00:26:07.666 --> 00:26:17.212
It was I think it was a Saturday Patrick Moore, principal at Blue Hill, I think he at the time he's the state coordinator on the NCSA executive board.

00:26:17.212 --> 00:26:19.521
He gives me a call.

00:26:19.521 --> 00:26:23.980
He says, bill, are you sitting down Because I got some good news?

00:26:23.980 --> 00:26:25.858
And he tells me.

00:26:25.858 --> 00:26:28.445
And then there's just like this long pause.

00:26:28.445 --> 00:26:32.084
I didn't, I couldn't believe it.

00:26:32.084 --> 00:26:34.544
I'm like is he pulling my chain here?

00:26:34.544 --> 00:26:38.780
And it was just kind of like I'm just processing, like you gotta be kidding me.

00:26:38.780 --> 00:26:44.957
Well then I went from kind of quiet and processing to like wow, that's so cool.

00:26:44.957 --> 00:26:53.933
And here we are, right, like and and and then getting to, what does it really mean, though?

00:26:53.933 --> 00:26:55.182
I don't know.

00:26:55.182 --> 00:26:59.651
You know, I think personally it's a cool thing.

00:26:59.651 --> 00:27:08.839
Let's be honest, like you, you hope to be recognized by your peers for doing a good job, and to me that's kind of what this is Like.

00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:12.643
This is a re, this is a recognition, but not just what I'm doing.

00:27:12.643 --> 00:27:18.606
I feel like it's a recognition for the good things that are happening in Boone Central.

00:27:18.606 --> 00:27:32.498
I remember telling our school board president well, when he called to congratulate me, I said well, they don't give coach of the year honors to coaches who coach mediocre teams.

00:27:32.498 --> 00:27:38.790
And you're a football coach, if you had a 500 season, you're not getting coach of the year.

00:27:38.790 --> 00:27:42.150
But if you win a state championship, you get coach of the year.

00:27:42.150 --> 00:27:45.450
Your players have a way of making you look pretty good.

00:27:45.450 --> 00:27:50.845
Teachers have a way of making us principals look pretty good.

00:27:50.845 --> 00:27:58.194
Teachers have a way of making us principals look pretty good, and I've been fortunate to be around some pretty amazing teachers.

00:27:58.194 --> 00:28:08.625
So I kind of look at the, at the recognition, more as the great things that are happening at Boone Central, like it's a.

00:28:08.625 --> 00:28:21.194
It's a validation that we're doing some things right, we're doing some things well and like we, we celebrate together, we celebrated together.

00:28:21.194 --> 00:28:23.465
It is, it is pretty special.

00:28:24.851 --> 00:28:25.692
I think that's great.

00:28:25.692 --> 00:28:28.882
I mean, I love how you know, yeah, you got the award.

00:28:28.882 --> 00:28:37.154
But it does take a team effort and it does take everybody working together to accomplish the things you accomplish at the building level.

00:28:37.154 --> 00:28:48.496
You know you get to be the guy at the top of that building but you need everybody underneath you to support the things, the vision, the mission that you lay out for them.

00:28:48.496 --> 00:28:52.692
So with that, I want you to really kind of brag on Boone Central.

00:28:52.692 --> 00:28:59.324
What are some things that you're proud of at Boone Central Middle School that you would like to share with other people?

00:28:59.324 --> 00:29:02.010
I'll give you a chance to kind of brag on them a little bit.

00:29:02.740 --> 00:29:03.040
All right.

00:29:03.040 --> 00:29:05.207
Well, you know what I'm going to start with.

00:29:05.207 --> 00:29:10.448
I'm going to start with a fail and then I'm going to turn that into kind of a brag.

00:29:10.448 --> 00:29:15.683
So just a couple years ago, climate and culture were not great.

00:29:15.683 --> 00:29:19.833
It kind of felt like an us versus them kind of thing.

00:29:19.833 --> 00:29:28.795
As an admin team, we weren't meeting the needs and there were some real challenges on our hands.

00:29:28.795 --> 00:29:38.628
We weren't meeting the needs of our teachers in a way that we needed to, so we had to focus on climate and culture.

00:29:38.628 --> 00:29:41.453
Well, that's exactly what we did.

00:29:41.453 --> 00:29:53.156
So we went back to the drawing board, we had a retreat, we went and sought the wisdom of some people that do climate and culture.

00:29:53.156 --> 00:29:56.963
Well, we reached out to mike lucas west side.

00:29:56.963 --> 00:30:26.901
We reflected on the things that make boone central great, we reflected on what people are proud of, and then that kind of morphed into the cardinal way and we tried to articulate the mission, vision and values of what we want to be and we put it on paper and then we tried to kind of make a little graphic about it in the cardinal way.

00:30:26.901 --> 00:30:37.429
Well, from that we are able to kind of start to identify or at least rethink, instead of focusing on the negative through the cardinal way.

00:30:37.429 --> 00:30:42.104
Now we're focusing on the positive and we're focusing on the things that we're very proud of.

00:30:42.104 --> 00:30:44.789
So climate and culture have improved.

00:30:44.789 --> 00:30:50.846
I'm very proud of that and what we've been able to improve here at Boone Central over the last few years.

00:30:50.846 --> 00:31:00.471
I'm very proud of the fact that we've been able to put some systems in place that help deliver consistent, high quality support to our staff.

00:31:00.471 --> 00:31:03.307
We've had five soups in six years.

00:31:03.307 --> 00:31:10.188
Those systems that we've put in place have been able to help us keep what we're offering at a very high level.

00:31:10.188 --> 00:31:13.102
It's not contingent upon the person that sits in that chair.

00:31:13.102 --> 00:31:14.806
I'm proud of that.

00:31:14.806 --> 00:31:20.902
Curriculum review cycles, school improvement, esu supports.

00:31:22.085 --> 00:31:26.902
We ask ourselves now if we're going to do something like well, what are we going to do at our next PD?

00:31:26.902 --> 00:31:33.874
Does it fit into our motto of building character, creating opportunities or striving for success?

00:31:33.874 --> 00:31:39.769
How is what we're doing fit into one of those three areas?

00:31:39.769 --> 00:31:48.905
If it's not building character, if it's not creating opportunities and if it's not striving for success, then the answer is no, we're not going to do it.

00:31:48.905 --> 00:31:59.148
And that has helped us kind of hone in to try not to be everything for everybody but to really dive into what's important.

00:31:59.148 --> 00:32:03.443
Well, now our scope is narrowed up a little bit.

00:32:03.443 --> 00:32:06.490
We're doing a better job with what we need to do.

00:32:06.490 --> 00:32:17.505
We like our motto building character starts with B, creating opportunities start with C, and striving for success is S, so B, c, s.

00:32:18.547 --> 00:32:30.921
Boone Central Schools building, creating, striving it's kind of a lettering thing, but that's who we are, that's who we are and I'm proud of those things.

00:32:30.921 --> 00:32:40.020
Let's be honest Our NSCAS scores have been consistently high, even when we've had some various class dynamics that would make it difficult.

00:32:40.020 --> 00:32:41.546
Very proud of that.

00:32:41.546 --> 00:32:45.276
I'm going to brag on our counselor, mrs Nelson.

00:32:45.276 --> 00:32:56.368
Every year she puts together this character retreat where she takes eighth graders off site and spends the day doing character education, sometimes even bringing in guest speakers.

00:32:56.368 --> 00:32:57.671
It's phenomenal.

00:32:57.671 --> 00:32:59.279
Phenomenal Like.

00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.384
That's so easy to support.

00:33:01.384 --> 00:33:04.611
We've got middle school speech going.

00:33:04.611 --> 00:33:06.942
Our varsity speech team is very good.

00:33:06.942 --> 00:33:10.452
Well, not everybody has middle school speech.

00:33:10.452 --> 00:33:15.112
And not only are we doing junior middle school speech, but we're letting our sixth graders participate.

00:33:15.112 --> 00:33:16.538
That's something they can do.

00:33:16.538 --> 00:33:20.930
Seventh and eighth graders get to do the sports Sixth graders are looking at.

00:33:20.930 --> 00:33:21.731
Well, what can we do?

00:33:21.731 --> 00:33:23.301
You can go out for speech.

00:33:23.301 --> 00:33:27.289
That has kind of fallen into.

00:33:27.289 --> 00:33:29.820
Well, now they want to go out for speech in high school.

00:33:29.820 --> 00:33:34.106
It's a sustaining program and then just individual.

00:33:34.166 --> 00:33:37.972
Like little successes and this one isn't little, this is big.

00:33:37.972 --> 00:33:46.704
Last year we had the fewest number of missing assignments as a middle school in the six years that I've been here.

00:33:46.704 --> 00:33:49.832
We didn't do a good enough celebration of that, but that's a very big deal.

00:33:49.832 --> 00:33:51.602
Like kids are starting to do their work.

00:33:51.602 --> 00:33:56.472
How nice would it be for you if kids started to do their work at a much higher level.

00:33:56.472 --> 00:34:00.147
All of a sudden, some of these problems aren't so big of problems anymore.

00:34:00.147 --> 00:34:02.113
That's a big deal.

00:34:02.113 --> 00:34:04.584
We figured it out a little bit last year.

00:34:04.584 --> 00:34:09.400
Well, we're trying to build on that this year and but we want to.

00:34:09.400 --> 00:34:18.996
Those are some things I think that we're doing well here, or at least I'm proud of, and it's okay to be proud of that.

00:34:18.996 --> 00:34:22.905
Like we don't do a good enough job in education, of celebrating our own successes.

00:34:22.905 --> 00:34:24.188
That's not.

00:34:24.188 --> 00:34:33.373
That's not tooting our own horn so much as it is recognizing that there's a lot of good people doing a lot of good things and there's nothing wrong with that.

00:34:37.079 --> 00:34:37.842
No, I'm right there with you, bill.

00:34:37.842 --> 00:34:41.351
I know public education gets beat up in the national media.

00:34:41.351 --> 00:34:56.431
So it's up to us to, you know, drive our own narrative from all the great things that we do have going on, like you're able to tell people on this podcast all the great things that are happening have going on, like you're able to tell people on this podcast all the great things that are happening at Boone central middle school.

00:34:56.431 --> 00:35:12.969
I'm able to kind of toot the horn of Hastings high school because, I'll tell you, people had a bad perception of Hastings high school and I showed up here and I was like no, you guys don't understand all the great things that actually happen here and the great people that do work here and do the day-to-day grind.

00:35:12.969 --> 00:35:14.313
And I see those things.

00:35:14.313 --> 00:35:16.681
I want to celebrate, I want people to know those things.

00:35:16.681 --> 00:35:19.289
Get it out there so people could see all the great things.

00:35:19.289 --> 00:35:43.717
Guess what, over the last three years now going to my fourth year here, the perception of Hastings High has changed, it's flipped and it all comes down to you know, controlling your narrative and showing and celebrating the great things that are happening, because people see the negatives and they dwell on that, but then when you just blitz them with all these positive things, they're like well, this one, the negative thing comes up.

00:35:43.717 --> 00:35:47.840
You have too many positive things to to counteract some of those things.

00:35:47.840 --> 00:35:51.110
So I think that's great that you've got some great things going.

00:35:51.199 --> 00:35:53.268
I think creating systems is important.

00:35:53.268 --> 00:36:00.909
You kind of talk about that a little bit, but I also believe you can't get to academic success without the culture being right.

00:36:00.909 --> 00:36:04.164
If your culture is right, academic successes will come.

00:36:04.164 --> 00:36:14.393
And you're kind of seeing some of those things, even though you probably had some academic successes before, but now you've probably even taken it to another level of that.

00:36:14.393 --> 00:36:22.387
So I think thank you for sharing that piece of wisdom and what you've learned over the last few years and the things that you guys have in place.

00:36:22.940 --> 00:36:43.311
I think the systems part is important because, like you said, no matter who's sitting in that superintendent seat or maybe even someday, bill, when you're not there if they have systems, they have the car in the way, they have the way they need to operate and no matter what happens, they understand what they have to do to be successful.

00:36:43.311 --> 00:36:46.248
So I think that's awesome and thank you for sharing that.

00:36:46.248 --> 00:36:55.425
So, bill, you and I met out at the Seattle President of the United Conference, and we got some good conversations there.

00:36:55.425 --> 00:37:08.416
I would love to hear some of your biggest takeaways from the United Principal Conference that was hosted by the NASSP and the NAESP this past summer.

00:37:08.416 --> 00:37:10.077
What are some big takeaways you took from that?

00:37:12.579 --> 00:37:12.960
be this past summer.

00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:13.922
What are some big takeaways you took from that?

00:37:13.922 --> 00:37:23.346
Well, this is going to sound similar to the conversation we had, maybe over a beverage or two, driving our little electric motor scooters down to a local establishment.

00:37:23.346 --> 00:37:25.148
But I love this.

00:37:25.148 --> 00:37:34.101
I've never been able to go to a national conference before, so being able to do that was a was kind of a special thing for me.

00:37:34.101 --> 00:37:43.614
I think the biggest takeaway for me was that I got to see Nebraska.

00:37:43.614 --> 00:37:47.264
Schools are doing things at a national level.

00:37:47.264 --> 00:37:51.070
You know how you always look the grass is greener.

00:37:51.070 --> 00:37:59.952
On the other side, the guy that won the national middle school principal of the year really kind of had a coach Carter kind of story.

00:37:59.952 --> 00:38:03.949
Like I'm not competing with that, like that guy's like he's amazing.

00:38:03.949 --> 00:38:05.353
Well, guess what?

00:38:05.353 --> 00:38:19.655
When we actually get to sit down and talk about what's going on and have real talk at the table, to sit down and talk about what's going on and have real talk at the table, we're doing things in Nebraska at a not just Boone, central, hastings, across the board.

00:38:19.655 --> 00:38:37.304
We're doing things in Nebraska at a very high level and there's a lot of those big time educators that would love to have the opportunities and the support that we have here in Nebraska, and so I think that was one big takeaway.

00:38:37.304 --> 00:38:44.614
Like you know what, we can compete with the big boys because we are doing some things well, but professionally too.

00:38:45.416 --> 00:38:54.724
I went to a session that Dr Toma she's a middle school assistant principal at Miller she did a session on navigating tough conversations.

00:38:54.724 --> 00:39:06.010
Wow, I'm telling you if you could get her on your podcast, she brought it and she has some great, great perspective.

00:39:06.010 --> 00:39:21.710
I got a lot out of that, thinking about situational versus systemic conversations, thinking about how we need to be an ally for all kids, and then, in those tough conversations, understanding perspective.

00:39:21.710 --> 00:39:26.190
Wow, like, okay, this isn't I'm right, you're wrong.

00:39:26.190 --> 00:39:31.769
I need to understand your perspective so that we can come together and move forward.

00:39:31.769 --> 00:39:33.853
Mind shift.

00:39:33.853 --> 00:39:35.585
That was fantastic.

00:39:35.585 --> 00:39:56.068
And then, I guess, the other one that stuck out for me Jim Knight, big name in education, been around for a long time, wrote in a lot of books, got to listen to him in person and here's what he said Engagement is the number one reason kids stop coming to school.

00:39:57.530 --> 00:40:01.755
They disengage physically, emotionally and cognitively.

00:40:01.755 --> 00:40:15.867
To figure out a way to improve attendance, for principals are trying to figure out a way to deal with truancy and absenteeism.

00:40:15.867 --> 00:40:20.577
What if you approach it from a level of engagement?

00:40:20.577 --> 00:40:22.722
How do we engage these kids?

00:40:22.722 --> 00:40:24.827
How do we get these kids to feel engaged?

00:40:24.827 --> 00:40:27.922
How do we get them to plug in and want to be here?

00:40:27.922 --> 00:40:31.452
And then let's see if that doesn't take care of itself.

00:40:31.452 --> 00:40:35.342
So I just I I found that fascinating.

00:40:35.342 --> 00:40:42.407
You know, he went on to talk about instructional coaching and some other things and the effect size that has on on what we're doing.

00:40:42.967 --> 00:40:48.164
But I just loved that idea because I'm a big, big engagement guy.

00:40:48.164 --> 00:40:50.929
When I do walkthroughs, I talk about engagement.

00:40:50.929 --> 00:40:56.565
When I do my observations, it's all about engagement.

00:40:56.565 --> 00:40:57.909
How are you engaging kids?

00:40:57.909 --> 00:40:59.331
How are we engaging each other?

00:40:59.331 --> 00:41:05.231
Because I feel like you do that well, everything else kind of falls into place.

00:41:05.231 --> 00:41:14.768
But then to hear Jim Knight talk about well, that's actually the reason kids don't want to come to school, because they don't feel engaged oh, that was a good takeaway for me.

00:41:14.768 --> 00:41:38.894
So there are a couple of things aside from finding this goofy looking guy in a Nebraska t-shirt uh, just walking around all by himself, looked, looked lost, borderline, homeless, felt sorry for him, but he had a Nebraska t-shirt on, so I came up and said hi, and then all of a sudden we struck up a conversation and and then we went on an adventure and took an electric scooter downtown.

00:41:38.894 --> 00:41:43.018
And now here I am talking to him on a podcast, like that's kind of a cool thing.

00:41:43.780 --> 00:41:45.527
Well, thanks for calling me homeless.

00:41:45.527 --> 00:41:46.826
I don't think I look that bad.

00:41:54.659 --> 00:41:56.784
You certainly didn't have the fancy socks and shirt and tie and jacket on at the time.

00:41:56.784 --> 00:41:58.186
But you know, I played it down, man, I played it down.

00:41:58.186 --> 00:41:59.971
I was in like chill mode right.

00:41:59.971 --> 00:42:03.326
It's like, hey, let's go to this nassp event.

00:42:03.326 --> 00:42:05.472
You know that was a great event, that was fun.

00:42:05.512 --> 00:42:07.518
But I do know dr anatoma.

00:42:07.518 --> 00:42:08.943
I've known her for a while.

00:42:08.943 --> 00:42:16.652
I've had, I've listened to her sessions, you know, at the nebraska state conferences as well and so yeah, she's a great person.

00:42:16.652 --> 00:42:20.126
She's at, you know, miller north middle school in the miller district.

00:42:20.126 --> 00:42:24.541
I actually was at millard at one point in my career at miller north high school.

00:42:24.541 --> 00:42:27.389
So I I kind of know the lay of the land there.

00:42:27.389 --> 00:42:33.610
But yeah, she's a great person and he had a chance to talk to her and yeah, I, I'll probably will ask her to come on eventually.

00:42:33.610 --> 00:42:34.672
I just haven't done it yet.

00:42:34.672 --> 00:42:40.476
But when it comes down to it, bill, those are great insights.

00:42:40.476 --> 00:42:43.182
I really appreciate you sharing out those things.

00:42:43.182 --> 00:42:49.001
So, bill, what gets you excited about continuing the work as a principal?

00:42:49.001 --> 00:42:50.983
What is something that's coming up that goes?

00:42:50.983 --> 00:42:52.025
You know what this was.

00:42:52.065 --> 00:43:03.512
Keep me going as a principal you know, before I answer, that I'm going to say if you make her the next person on your podcast, don't do that to me.

00:43:03.512 --> 00:43:13.224
Man, like I gotta, you gotta, give a few like can you find kind of like a soft few people, that few like can you find kind?

00:43:13.264 --> 00:43:15.445
of like a soft few people that no, I'm just kidding.

00:43:15.465 --> 00:43:17.387
No, seriously, though, what?

00:43:17.387 --> 00:43:20.489
What gets me excited to continue the work that we're doing?

00:43:20.489 --> 00:43:24.251
It's relationships, right, but it's not.

00:43:24.251 --> 00:43:25.311
That's not cliche.

00:43:25.311 --> 00:43:26.833
I love.

00:43:27.233 --> 00:43:31.275
I love coming to work because I love connecting with kids.

00:43:31.275 --> 00:43:36.038
I genuinely enjoy building relationships with kids.

00:43:36.038 --> 00:43:40.880
I enjoy talking to the adults.

00:43:40.880 --> 00:43:46.224
I see myself as a support system for the people that I'm around.

00:43:46.224 --> 00:43:53.128
So, because I feel supported, I have a great admin team.

00:43:53.128 --> 00:44:01.655
I look forward to having conversations with our admin team about doing things at a district level and not challenging and encouraging each other.

00:44:01.715 --> 00:44:05.797
Like I love the collegiality that we have on our in our middle school and our staff.

00:44:05.797 --> 00:44:10.541
It's a fun working environment.

00:44:10.541 --> 00:44:11.244
That gets me excited.

00:44:11.244 --> 00:44:29.844
You know, if I'm at a point where I feel like my good isn't good enough, yeah, it's kind of hard to get excited to come to work every day, right, but when you feel supported and you are supported and you're around great people, great things happen, and that's been true in my case.

00:44:29.844 --> 00:44:33.989
I've been lucky to be able to find great people when we need jobs.

00:44:33.989 --> 00:44:59.251
I've been fortunate to work with some pretty great people and and that leads to some great connections we have with kids, and I think that's probably the biggest thing that gets me excited to come into work is just getting to have those conversations, relationship building, getting to know what makes them go, hearing their successes and just being excited for them.

00:44:59.251 --> 00:45:01.898
And that makes you a good bus driver too.

00:45:01.898 --> 00:45:04.706
Like just hey, I heard you had a great game the other night.

00:45:04.706 --> 00:45:05.447
That's awesome.

00:45:05.447 --> 00:45:07.699
Like celebrating in their successes.

00:45:09.003 --> 00:45:10.507
I love it, I love it, I love it.

00:45:10.507 --> 00:45:11.920
Those are all great things.

00:45:11.920 --> 00:45:14.503
You know a lot of those things I get excited for too.

00:45:14.503 --> 00:45:15.880
You know I love going to work.

00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:16.715
I love what I do.

00:45:16.715 --> 00:45:25.829
If there ever comes a time I'm not loving it, then it's probably time for me to step away, but I don't see that happening anytime soon for me as well.

00:45:25.829 --> 00:45:38.635
You know we've had a really great conversation, Bill, and so I want you to be able to impart some wisdom on to people that might be thinking about becoming an administrator.

00:45:38.635 --> 00:45:43.688
So what would you tell people that are thinking about becoming a principal?

00:45:43.688 --> 00:45:45.860
What would you advise them on?

00:45:45.860 --> 00:45:48.320
What's some wisdom that you would give them?

00:45:48.880 --> 00:45:56.788
Well, you know, I talk about all the things that are cool and the things I enjoy, but it's not all, pollyanna, we've got to have tough conversations.

00:45:56.788 --> 00:46:03.018
I don't always like the conversations I have with the kids in my office, right Like those are tough things to have happen.

00:46:03.018 --> 00:46:06.045
You know, when you're dealing with difficult situations.

00:46:06.045 --> 00:46:06.487
We had to.

00:46:06.487 --> 00:46:13.222
We had to make a call to our school attorneys today, like not everything is great, you get through those things.

00:46:13.222 --> 00:46:16.708
So I'd say maybe, maybe just some some thoughts.

00:46:16.976 --> 00:46:24.608
If you're thinking about being a leader, reflect on what your personal strengths are and then use that to your advantage.

00:46:24.608 --> 00:46:29.581
If you're a relationship person, be a relationship leader.

00:46:29.581 --> 00:46:36.938
If you're a data-driven person, be a relational leader that uses data to make informed decisions.

00:46:36.938 --> 00:46:38.219
That's not a bad thing.

00:46:38.219 --> 00:46:41.603
Find your strengths.

00:46:41.603 --> 00:46:50.719
Be intentional with leveraging those strengths to be who you are as a leader, and then you're going to find success.

00:46:50.719 --> 00:46:55.179
If you try to be somebody you're not, you're going to be disappointed.

00:46:55.179 --> 00:47:01.101
So I think that think about your personal strengths, think about how you can use those to be a great leader.

00:47:01.101 --> 00:47:06.815
I'd also say build your network of support to be a great leader.

00:47:06.815 --> 00:47:10.246
I'd also say build your network of support, like when you get that first job, who are three people you can call after hours if you need help.

00:47:10.246 --> 00:47:12.735
That's the start of your network.

00:47:12.735 --> 00:47:17.382
And then go from there, think about here's the other one.

00:47:18.465 --> 00:47:21.896
Think about who the mentors are in your life.

00:47:21.896 --> 00:47:35.277
You know, if you were coming to me saying, hey, I'm going to be a, I'm going to be a principal, if I told you, think about the mentors that are in your life, there's a few people that come to mind.

00:47:35.277 --> 00:47:43.119
Well, what were they to you and what did they do differently than other people in your life?

00:47:43.119 --> 00:47:45.947
Well, they took a real interest in me.

00:47:45.947 --> 00:47:48.362
They seemed to care what I had to say.

00:47:50.115 --> 00:48:18.398
Oh, be that in your first job, reflect or think about the things that you liked, about those mentors which will shape the way you are as a leader, those traits, those relationship building characteristics, the things that made you a great teacher, the things that you aspire to be in the mentors that were in your life.

00:48:18.398 --> 00:48:21.762
That carries over to administration.

00:48:21.762 --> 00:48:26.570
Yeah, there's the tough conversations, there's the not so fun stuff.

00:48:26.570 --> 00:48:32.588
There is a higher burnout in administration because it's hard.

00:48:32.588 --> 00:48:55.389
We're not always supported as leaders, but you can be successful if you know who you are, are, you have a network of support and you try to reflect the things that worked for you and the leaders that you respected, and try to become that.

00:48:55.389 --> 00:48:58.255
That will help you in your process to being successful.

00:48:58.255 --> 00:48:59.317
I have no doubt about it.

00:48:59.317 --> 00:49:00.820
It's worked for us.

00:49:01.621 --> 00:49:02.481
Yeah, I love it.

00:49:02.481 --> 00:49:08.170
I mean, for me, I learned from the people that were in leadership positions.

00:49:08.170 --> 00:49:18.530
I took things from them and I always say, like, if I could take this from this person, this from this person and apply those things, that's going to help me become better.

00:49:18.530 --> 00:49:20.862
But yet I am who I am.

00:49:20.862 --> 00:49:24.260
I am my authentic self and I'm not going to change who I am.

00:49:24.260 --> 00:49:25.628
I am my authentic self and I'm not going to change who I am.

00:49:25.628 --> 00:49:27.938
But at the same time, I learned from other people.

00:49:28.320 --> 00:49:34.384
Like Bill, I'm sitting here learning from you right now, and so there's some things like I have man right on, they do some things.

00:49:34.384 --> 00:49:37.260
Maybe I can think about getting better as well.

00:49:37.260 --> 00:49:42.096
So I really appreciate you know, the insights there and, like you said, this is a tough job.

00:49:42.096 --> 00:49:51.041
But we also got to look at finding the joy in the job, finding the joy in what we do, and that's something I talked to my staff about like, hey, this job's not easy.

00:49:51.041 --> 00:50:01.748
It's tough sometimes, so let's find the joy in what we do and let's attack each day in a way that we're trying to help kids and do what's best for kids.

00:50:01.789 --> 00:50:13.221
So those are some things that you know I've talked to my staff about and just some, some just a mindset that we try to have here at Hastings High School, as well as other schools do the same stuff.

00:50:13.221 --> 00:50:15.686
So, you know, we don't want to reinvent wheels.

00:50:15.686 --> 00:50:28.842
We want to take from other people and apply those things, cause when you do the things that other great people in this position do, you're going to be successful at it, and so I think those are some great takeaways, bill.

00:50:28.842 --> 00:50:32.056
So, bill, you know it's been a great conversation.

00:50:32.056 --> 00:50:35.505
If people wanted to connect with you, how could they do that?

00:50:36.586 --> 00:50:39.041
Well, they could sign up for my bus driving class.

00:50:39.041 --> 00:50:42.451
Learn to be a bus driver.

00:50:42.451 --> 00:50:44.489
I teach classes for the Nebraska Safety Center.

00:50:44.489 --> 00:50:45.041
I'm trying to help districts meet the needs they have for van a bus driver.

00:50:45.041 --> 00:50:45.436
I teach classes for the Nebraska safety center.

00:50:45.436 --> 00:50:48.387
I'm trying to help districts meet the needs they have for van and bus drivers.

00:50:48.387 --> 00:50:51.110
So take my class and become a bus driver.

00:50:51.675 --> 00:50:55.864
No, actually I don't have a very strong media presence I.

00:50:55.864 --> 00:50:58.536
That's an area that of growth I need to do a better job at.

00:50:58.536 --> 00:50:59.398
They can email me.

00:50:59.398 --> 00:51:03.583
I am on Twitter X at Mr Bill Curry.

00:51:04.505 --> 00:51:07.469
I listen and follow a lot of educational things.

00:51:07.469 --> 00:51:09.322
I don't post a lot of stuff.

00:51:09.322 --> 00:51:14.963
I'm a taker, not a giver, so this has been a step out for me a little bit.

00:51:14.963 --> 00:51:22.608
But you know what, when you asked me to do this, I thought to myself you know, I remember conversations I have with kids.

00:51:22.608 --> 00:51:29.099
I remember conversations I have with kids.

00:51:29.119 --> 00:51:30.242
You tell kids who do you want to be.

00:51:30.242 --> 00:51:32.831
Put people in your life that you want to be like and you're going to be a better person.

00:51:32.831 --> 00:51:35.938
Put good people around you Professionally.

00:51:35.938 --> 00:51:37.302
Let's do the same, right?

00:51:37.302 --> 00:51:48.003
I'm open, but I'll tell you my hits and I'll tell you my misses, I'll tell you my successes and I'll tell you my fails, but put people in your life.

00:51:48.003 --> 00:51:51.429
Great people when great.

00:51:51.429 --> 00:51:55.099
When you're, when you surround yourself great people, great things happen.

00:51:55.099 --> 00:51:59.148
And yeah, I, you can follow me, you can email me.

00:51:59.148 --> 00:52:02.438
I'm not sure you're going to get anything more than you.

00:52:02.438 --> 00:52:11.385
You can listen to the Principal JL podcast, right, you bet there's a lot of ways there, but this has been great.

00:52:11.385 --> 00:52:13.360
It doesn't even we've been talking for almost an hour.

00:52:13.360 --> 00:52:14.304
It doesn't feel like it.

00:52:14.304 --> 00:52:21.684
It just feels like one of those conversations we had over a beverage in Seattle and man, it's just what a cool thing.

00:52:21.684 --> 00:52:25.766
I just appreciate this connection and wish you much success this year.

00:52:25.766 --> 00:52:29.523
Wish you and your listeners have a great, great year.

00:52:30.425 --> 00:52:30.766
Awesome.

00:52:30.766 --> 00:52:31.295
Well, bill.

00:52:31.295 --> 00:52:37.443
Hey, I appreciate you being on the show and I'll get your information in the show notes so people can connect with you.

00:52:37.443 --> 00:52:40.166
If you would like, I'll put down the information of.

00:52:40.166 --> 00:52:43.619
I'll be coming to bus driver in the episode too, as well.

00:52:43.619 --> 00:52:49.606
So that's you know what I could do for you to try to help, you know, maybe create some more bus drivers in the state of Nebraska.

00:52:49.606 --> 00:52:52.300
So, hey, bill, it was great having you on the show.

00:52:52.300 --> 00:52:53.862
I appreciate everything.

00:52:53.862 --> 00:52:54.605
You know.

00:52:54.605 --> 00:52:56.597
I will talk to you down the road.

00:52:56.597 --> 00:52:57.539
Have a great evening.

00:52:58.282 --> 00:52:58.682
You too.

00:52:58.682 --> 00:53:03.480
Thanks for having me on what a great conversation with Bill Curry.

00:53:03.900 --> 00:53:12.425
It is clear that his leadership dedication to building a positive school culture has transcended through his staff and students.

00:53:12.425 --> 00:53:17.507
If this episode resonates with you, please share it with someone who needs to hear it.

00:53:17.507 --> 00:53:27.061
And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you won't miss another powerful episode to fill up your cup.

00:53:27.061 --> 00:53:31.626
Until next time, be curious and 1% better.