A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview Principal Bush of Redding Elementary and ask many questions about Redding. Below is a series of questions I asked and Mr. Bush’s responses.

Why did you become a principal?

“That’s a really loaded question. So long story short I knew from a young age that I really enjoyed working with young kids. I had a really big family where I was always surrounded by children. When I was young I grew up with a ton of cousins, aunts and uncles. As I grew up, I kinda became one of those people who loved to hang with kids and yanno play games or run camps. Whenever there were opportunities as I became older to do some leadership and community outreach towards the youth, I really enjoyed that. That’s where I felt the most comfortable.

That’s when I decided to become a teacher. As my teaching career progressed and I coached a lot of basketball, through my coaching and teaching experiences I felt like I had some leadership qualities that were worth sharing with others. I felt like it was my turn to do some leading. So with some encouragement from a number of colleagues and friends and mentors (they kinda pushed me into that direction) I took a leap of faith and stopped coaching and jumped into the administrative side of things.” (sic)

How long have you been a principal here?

“This is my second year as principal of Redding and I was assistant principal a year before that. This is just year three in administration for me. I’m pretty green as far as some of the other veterans that we have in our community.” (sic)

Does your school have a motto?

“Yes, we have a number of things in place. Our current theme for the year is Beelieve. We want our students to believe in themselves and we want our students to know our staff believes in them. We also have a motto that our students say everyday: “I am respectful. I am responsible. I am a Redding leader.” We promote that social/emotional component where kids take ownership of what they’re doing and lead themselves through that process and believe in themselves along the way.” (sic)

How would you describe your school?

“I would say that our school is  a wonderful collection of everything that Jackson County has to offer. We have a number of students from many different backgrounds. We have students who are new to our country. We have students who are lifelong Seymour residents. We’re a four section school but we also house a number of special education programs in our corporation.” (sic)

How would you describe your staff and students?

“I would describe our staff as lovable, approachable, outgoing, and always willing to do whatever it takes to help a student become the best version of themselves. I would describe our students as kids who are passionate, lively, wonderful young people who are trying to figure out what they’re going to do next in this world. We’re going to love them and take care of them and help them along the way. We have another motto in our building where our staff talks about our school being a place where students want to learn and adults want to work. The thought process behind that is if everybody wants to be here, great things will happen. So we try to go above and beyond to create experiences where this is the place people want to be.” (sic)

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