Episode 37: Showing Up Matters: How Dr. Travis Madison Leads with Heart and Clarity

Few roles demand more heart, humility, and resolve than leading a public school district. 

In this episode, CEO Sarah Hempstead sits down with Dr. Travis Madison, superintendent of New Albany Floyd County Schools, for a candid conversation about leadership rooted in purpose—and the power of showing up for students, staff, and the community every day.

With nearly three decades in education, Dr. Madison offers the perspective of someone who has served at every level—from the English classroom to the superintendent’s office. He reflects on how coaching shaped his leadership style, why visibility and trust matter more than ever, and how career education can serve as a powerful equalizer for students across the district.

Listeners will explore:

• Empathy and consistency as foundations for effective school leadership
• Visibility, relationships, and trust as drivers of districtwide success
• Career education access and how programs like Prosser prepare students for life beyond the classroom
• District alignment and the strategies behind building systems that support long-term impact

Whether he’s cheering on students at an evening event or navigating big-picture strategy, Dr. Madison leads with an unwavering commitment to doing what’s best for kids.

🔗 Subscribe and follow us at @SchmidtAssociates on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.

Transcript

Sarah: [00:00:00] Welcome to Luminate, navigating the Unknown Through Creative Leadership. I'm Sarah Hempstead, the CEO and Principal in Charge at Schmidt Associates. And today's guest is Dr. Travis Madison, superintendent of New Albany Floyd County schools. With nearly three decades in public education, Dr. Madison has worn many hats, English teacher, coach, assistant principal, athletic director, principal, and now superintendent.

His experience gives him a unique perspective on what it takes to support students, staff, and communities at every level of education. Known for his commitment to continuous growth and relationship driven leadership. He's guided schools through district-wide progress, facility modernization, and hands-on career education initiatives that prepare students for life beyond the classroom.

Dr. Madison, welcome to Illuminate. Happy to have you. 

Travis: Happy to be here. Thank you so much. 

Sarah: So if it's okay with you, let's start at the beginning. Was education always in your future? Was that always how you saw yourself? 

Travis: It was always there at the forefront. Obviously growing up I had some tremendous opportunities in education.

Some people that really [00:01:00] inspired me and challenged me even as young as elementary. So it was always something that I always felt like I wanted to do. It's kind of funny, when I first was going to look at my undergraduate, I was looking at ball state 'cause I was education or architecture. Those are the two things that interest me.

Sarah: Who leads for me to recommend her. I don't. Yeah, it isn't. That 

Travis: may be my second career someday, or at least dabble in a little bit. But as I got into high school, I really had some strong influences, teachers that I guess saw a lot in me and pulled that out of me and coaches as well. I knew whatever path I went on that I was going to try to pay that forward and try to be that either a coach or mentor or teacher of some kind, even if I did go into a different field.

But ultimately, as I got to the end of my secondary career. In high school, and that's where I was leaning toward is I had a love for literature. I loved reading passion for just English. And some of those things just always came easy to me for some reason. I enjoyed the teachers that I had and the writing and just those different things, which was probably odd for some, but it was something that was always a niche for me.

And so, uh, when I [00:02:00] went to my undergrad at UOB down in Evansville, uh, studied to be an English teacher and then I started doing a little bit of coaching on the side for some part-time. Money and things like that. So, but yeah, always, always been something that, and again, I just credited to a lot of the people that stepped in and helped me.

Just tremendous role models. And my parents are ones that really valued our educators, supported them. And make sure that you know what you, you took care of business at school and you went to school to get an education. Neither one of my parents went to college, but that's something they aspired for, at least myself and my two brothers, is they wanted us to pursue post-secondary education and provide ourselves some opportunities.

Maybe they hadn't had. 

Sarah: So is there a, a particular teacher or coach that stands out as somebody you think of often as you lead in similar ways? 

Travis: Yeah, I played for several that were really good. My first teaching experience that I had was in a small rural district, went up to teaching English and I was gonna be an assistant basketball coach and.

This gentleman by the name of Kevin Roy was [00:03:00] the head coach and also taught biology. I was the youngest teacher. By 12 years, it had been a school that had consolidated. So when they consolidated three smaller schools, they basically said, nobody's gonna get laid off, so we're gonna try to, and then, so basically through attrition, people just when they retired, sure.

So they didn't hire behind them. But ultimately I was the youngest. By far, he was the closest one to my age. The one thing I saw in him is he was a great gifted coach, but when I watched him, how he handled his classroom and how he made things come to life for the kids in the science classes that he taught, because that's one thing I asked my principal when I got into my first teaching assignment.

I wanted to utilize some of my prep time to go and watch other people teach. And so I always enjoyed going to other teacher's classrooms just to continue to try to hone my craft and learn from how they did things, and just always wanted to try to continue to search out new ways of attacking things.

And especially with the students that I had at that point in time, I wanted to see maybe different, different tools they used to reach them and engage them and wanted to make sure and bring those back to whatever I could in my classroom. But so he was one that I [00:04:00] saw very early on that just the way that he approached it and even when he coached the sports that he coached, he approached it as a teacher as well.

Not just somebody that knew the game, but how he broke things down and how he was a teacher, even in the sports study coach too. And he was very intellectual, very. Everything had a purpose. There was always, it was fine tuning and we didn't waste a lot of time. We didn't waste a lot of energy. He was very efficient, but then very, very end goal minded, and so you could see those things building.

So I felt like I garnered a great deal of experience at the outset by working with him for two to three years and the early part of my teaching career and coaching career. So he's somebody that I still have conversations with. I actually was able to bring him back to a school that I was superintendent at before I came to New Albany, Floyd County.

He was down in Texas and I brought him back up there and he's teaching and coaching there now, so. Oh, that's cool. So he has, he's had all my kids in his class and so it's been kind of neat to come first full circle. And my kids absolutely loves his class. I mean, he does a great job of, he does biology and anatomy and physiology and physics, and the way that he approaches it.

Challenges. 'em, [00:05:00] it's not easy, the things that he has 'em do, but ultimately they, the way that he approaches things, I think the kids appreciate it and they leave the class well prepared for whatever they want to do. So even if it's at the college level. So, 

Sarah: well, and, and the, you talk about it, you talk about teaching like a vocation, not a job, which I, I feel like that rings true for most of the educators I have ever met.

Seems like that's true for you too. You've been at 30 years. 

Travis: Yeah, and it, and I said that I think it was even at my introductory three years ago at New, I mean, I consider it a vocation, it's a calling, especially in this day and age where there's so many different demands that are placed upon educators.

You've gotta be in it for the right reasons. And even then, even the folks that are in for the right reasons can get disenfranchised and or burned out very easily because of all the different things that are pulled, uh, at you and the different things that we're asked to do for our kids. Just because of the nature of the society that we're in, we've replaced a lot of systems with everything in the public school system that maybe used to be in place back when we grew up, where family structure's a lot different, community structures are a lot different.

Mm-hmm. Different systems that aren't necessarily there in place, but at least from the school [00:06:00] standpoint, we step in and cover a lot of those bases for them. But yeah, it certainly is, and I know that's kinda the way I've always approached any role that I've had. I was placed there for a reason. And the reason I did it is to try to help kids because so many people stepped in and helped me.

So it's, again, it's that that mindset of hopefully can have an influence and hopefully can, some, can make a difference in, in some lives as children and families, much like so many people did for me. 

Sarah: Well, and I think your career path is really interesting because you have had kind of all the roles that are, well, not all, but so many different roles.

Within a school system, how do you look at the, your different role as changing your why? Or maybe it's, maybe it's not, maybe it's the same. Why no matter what the role is? 

Travis: Well, I think I look at the path that I've had and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Not that I haven't had different challenges along the way, but my hope is that it keeps my eyes open and my ears open and just, and my heart open to be able to understand what everybody that I have within my team is going through.

I can't walk in their shoes every single [00:07:00] day, but I hope that the path with which I've been able to travel on gives me a broad perspective and at least keeps my mind open to listen and to make sure that the decisions that come to me or that I have to, at the end of the day make, can be made with a little bit of that perspective and know that there's ripple effects and how those things are gonna impact all the different levels of folks that work within our team.

So that's the one thing. I feel like that my path has provided me a little bit of that perspective. You know, even though there's roles I haven't had, my hope is that anybody that comes into contact with me, and I feel like that's something that at least I've heard. I mean, I've always tried to be approachable.

I always try to make sure that, uh, folks feel comfortable coming to me and understanding that I'm there for them. Really, that's ultimately, I work for all of 'em and the one that sits in the office that's in charge. But ultimately it takes all of us, and I need them to understand that I'm there and I need to hear concerns.

I need to hear their perspective or their thoughts, because that's only gonna. Hopefully put us in a better position to make the right decisions when we're making those for whatever [00:08:00] problem or issue that comes our way. 

Sarah: And kinda what you're talking about is relationships, right? Yeah. Is recognizing that everybody who works for and with you and all the students have their own things going on, and Yeah, taking the time to know and care, which I have personally seen, and then it's making time to make this happen.

Was difficult, but for all the right reasons. 'cause you had kids who needed you to show up at school and teachers and administrators, which is job number one. 

Travis: Yeah, it is. And that's the biggest thing. It's a challenge. I mean, obviously I, as you mentioned, I, I've had a different path trajectory and the last three years, it's significant change for me moving from a smaller rural district to, or larger, obviously urban and suburban district.

That's the thing that I've really tried to be intentional about. But even then, I feel like sometimes, I don't wanna say I fall short, but there's times I wish I could do more is getting out and about more because I was always one that was very visible and try to make sure that students and parents and families felt the support from, from the district level leadership and, and a lot of that is just being there and showing [00:09:00] up and making sure that you're supporting whatever thing that's going on, whether it's a program at school or.

Athletic events and we have so many and they're so vast, so you can't be everywhere. So it's just trying to strategically put yourself in a position to try to get to as many things as you can, and, and again, just provide that, that visibility is huge. They don't need anything more than maybe just seeing you there to make sure they know that you care and that you're excited about what their kids are doing and, and all of our kids are doing and different programs and different activities that we have going on.

So 

Sarah: it means you're out every night, right? 

Travis: Pretty 

Sarah: much. Yeah. One of the things I think is really interesting and going back. To read some of your writing and listen to some of your interviews. You, you sound like a coach when you talk. Which makes perfect sense as you've coached three, three sports, four sports.

Many. Yeah, a lot. And many sports. Yeah. And two things kind of stood out to me. One underpinning of continuous improvement, which I think is admirable, paired with the idea that you start out undefeated, that there can be moments of starting over and breathing and, okay, let's go. Could you talk [00:10:00] about those two things and how they work together?

Travis: That's how I do intentionally approach everything, because ultimately that's what I feel like I am as a, as a coach at heart. And coaching so many different things. It's not just winning a game, it's more of being able to, to manipulate the different things, try to motivate, get the most out people and try to provide them the support that they need.

And I always tell people, support sometimes isn't always just to pat on the back. It's also having a tough conversation and saying, Hey, we've gotta do this a little bit better. And looking in the mirror yourself as well. Mm-hmm. And doing that. But that's the biggest thing I think from my standpoint, is to be that positive reinforcer at the level that I'm at, and trying to make sure that, again, just going back to what I mentioned earlier about providing that support and hopefully making people feel supported.

It doesn't mean that everything's always gonna go a hundred percent your way, but okay, how do we turn maybe a negative into a positive? How do we learn from that situation and approach it differently next time? And that's much like anything else. It's putting together a game plan. It's trying to execute different things to try to get there and strategize and [00:11:00] all of those things.

And then putting all the things in place to make it effective. But yeah, to your point, I, the Todd Whitaker is another, uh, mentor of mine that I had very early on in my graduate master's courses that at Indiana State, I was at University of Missouri, Columbia. But he, he used that term and starting a year out undefeated.

And that's important as educators, I think. And I used to look at that way, even as a teacher and a coach every day. We started off hit the reset button 'cause we may not have had a great day yesterday, whether it was in the class or in practice. Things didn't go this way that way. Let's hit the reset button.

We're coming back fresh. Now I tried to do that before we closed up shop that day. I tried to do that so nobody left feeling, hey, I had a bad day, or had this or had that. You try to clear those things up before they leave so they don't stew on 'em overnight. But you come back every day and say, Hey, we got another chance to tackle this.

And I stress to our teachers all the time. We get the opportunity to do this each year. I mean, I get to do a commencement every single year and watch those families celebrate. I also get the first day of school when everybody's excited and every first grade teacher, that child only [00:12:00] gets one year in first grade, so you get a, maybe do that 30, 40 times in your career.

But that kid and that family, this is their one chance that we gotta make sure we provide our very best each and every year. To make sure that they get the best experience possible. And so we get the opportunity to do it every year. But some of them, only, this is their one, this is their one senior year.

This is their one opportunity to do this, and especially through COVID. I know that was something I really struggled with. My wife counseled me through it because when I saw kids many missing out on things, that was really hard for me to handle because as a person and understood that these are things that they're not gonna get back, and you know that it's not the end of the world, but for some of those kids, I mean, these are things that.

That I know I look back fondly and I know other kids, and my kids have, and my kids were right through the thick of high school during that time too. So as I was feeling it, as an educator, but also as a father and saying, I don't, you know, so, um, we, we tried very hard to keep, to be creative and, and try to find opportunities for kids to still make memories through some of those challenging times.

But, uh, but no, I, I very much approached things from that coaching mindset. Um, and myself included, I [00:13:00] know, uh, my hope is that I continue to try to find better ways to improve and grow myself so I could be a better leader for those that need me. So, 

Sarah: uh, I love, I love the idea of even starting out every day.

Like, all right, new day, started out undefeated. Let's go love. You can do it the night before. That's, yeah. That's impressive. Well, let's talk about the district itself moving forward. We recently worked with you and your team on the Prosser Career Education Center, and I think that. That is really forward looking and continuous improvement.

Can you talk about what you hope that does? 

Travis: It was a, something I knew a little bit about when I interviewed and applied for this position, but it is one of my favorite places to go and I stress all the time, anytime I promote it, Prosser. It's the largest standalone career center in the state of Indiana, and I would put it up to any career center that I've ever been around and seen some of the programs that we have in there.

When you look at the machinery and the equipment that the kids get to utilize at rivals, colleges and some of the [00:14:00] programs that they have. So it's exciting. I love going there. I love being a part of it. I love helping plan some of those things. And the good thing is, is we've got some really good people down there running it that are very outside the box thinking and, and trying to stay ahead of the curve and the trends.

And so it's important, imperative, especially as we prepare our learners for, for tomorrow, is to make sure that we're doing those things and. I just see it as a tremendous opportunity and any legislator I talk to, I mean, I, I stress, I said every region in our state needs that. Mm-hmm. And I came from an area where we were probably a little deficient in that regard.

I mean, we did what we could, but the resources were limited. And obviously we have a little bit more of an advantage down here. Obviously being more of an area, a lot more resources and some support from metropolitan area outside of Louisville and Albany. And a lot of the growth and expansion that's going up 1 65.

But again, I can't say enough about the role that a lot of those teachers play. And that's the thing that amazes me when I go through and visit a lot of the folks that are working with our kids there and kids from 26 different high schools. Um, a lot of 'em have been out in the field and this [00:15:00] is now they've retired from whatever field that they, whether it's Homeland Security, we've got retired folks that worked on President Bush's Secret Service that are doing different things.

We've got folks that are retired from other places and now they're coming back and passing that on. And to see the excitement that they have. And being able to pass on that knowledge to 17, 18-year-old kids because they know that it's in it. And I think that's what we all try to do, is we want to, we wanna build those folks to fill our shoes and to put 'em out there and to be able to be successful.

And that's kind of the neat thing. Obviously watching the kids do a lot of those neat things and the. Skills that they're building and the extension of learning that they're going to get to, even if they don't go into that field specifically, the experiences they're getting are tremendous. But I just love seeing the people we have been able to work with those kids and the expertise and the knowledge that they bring to the table.

Because it's unbelievable without anybody to sit in the class or watch. And you can tell I probably, I've been out there just as much as anybody. It kind of teased me. 'cause I'm, I usually make it a point to get out there. I just, it just, it's what [00:16:00] it's all about really. And especially, I think we're ahead of the curve a little bit, especially with the way the state's going with some of the new diplomas.

Experiences they want kids to get. Now the challenge for us is to make sure that we have as many opportunities as we can to provide to those kids. So sure, that's what we're trying to tackle now. And not just at Prosser, but even in our high schools in general, as far as trying to find different ways for them to get those meaningful work-based learning experiences.

Talking about careers earlier, letting them know a little bit about. Having them ask key questions of themselves on what kind of things interest me. I don't know if you know much about the EC model that Holland's theories, but a lot of colleges used those for years. But one of the things we're gonna try to do is bring 'em down even to kindergarten and all the up through elementary, so kids get to understand why I'm good at this or why this interests me, and identify that way with those, with some of those key terms, and maybe help that teacher have that information at their finger tips to help engage those students even more and start talking about those things even earlier.

Not that you're trying to pigeonhole 'em into a career, but. Have them still understand themselves a little bit better on my, why am I more artistic and why am I more investigative? Or all the different terms [00:17:00] that fall under that, because we all have our differences and similarities, but there's reasons why we may navigate toward a certain.

And I just in talking to you mm-hmm. You have children that are one looking at law, one looking at architecture, but mm-hmm. There's obviously different things that are embedded in them that lean them in that direction, right? So how can we identify those things? And all of 'em are positive, it's just, but they may learn a little differently.

They may get engaged a little bit differently, but. How can we utilize and take advantage of some of that information to better push them in the right direction and encourage 'em in the right direction and get them some experiences in that so they can really have a, have an idea of what they really want to do.

Sarah: Well, and I love the idea of embedding that thinking into every program for every kid as young as possible, right? Kids have things are curious about and yeah, and maybe I like to be outside or maybe I don't. Maybe that's the difference between me being an engineer working on a computer or a contractor working in the field.

Same skill sets, but different. Yeah. You know, likes and aptitudes, but that's awesome. So projects like Prosser, another thing that was pretty admirable about that one is it really took underutilized spaces [00:18:00] and brought them back to life. So how do you think about that as you think about the whole district making every space, just really seeing with 

Travis: educational opportunity?

Well, it's imperative and I know SCH Fit has worked with us doing a pretty extensive study over the last two and a half years since I've been there. We had to take a hard look at all of our different facilities, and we're in the process right now of hoping that we can get a lot of those things handled.

We're working through the bond process. Mm-hmm. And all of those things now, but I know we've identified a significant amount of opportunities for us to really tackle our facilities from a standpoint of the things that have to be taken care of, your systems and things like that. But then also how do you reorganize some of those spaces to better maximize the use, and also make sure that usage is gonna be.

Something that's gonna be worthwhile and fortuitous for the way the kids learn now and the way that we wanna set those things up to be able to have some of those multipurpose spaces for a lot of the different things that kids are gonna be doing. And how do we maximize the space that we have to make sure that it's gonna be a, you know, it's an advantage for [00:19:00] those kids and those teachers that utilize that space.

It's a challenge. We've got several buildings that are older. We've got some that we're gonna have to make some tough decisions on is a total building replacement, things like that. But I feel like we've got a great roadmap, at least right now, of some really good things identified by the research and the time that we spent and, and now strategically putting together a plan of action and setting a course of how do we wanna tackle those things systematically over the next four to five years.

Prosser is a great example. We, we didn't wanna wait on some of those things, so we went ahead of the game because we just felt like it was so imperative. To be able to utilize some of those things. There was a couple of programs we wanted to bring in that we hadn't had with plumbing and pipe fitting and some of those things that we felt like are high need areas that we could do now.

And so we pushed that project forward a little bit more and then that had some space out back for some different storage to be able to open up some more space in the building to be able to, 'cause again, we don't wanna turn kids away. They really wanna take advantage of those programs. And we feel like it's a tremendous opportunity to provide those opportunities for the future workforce.

And so that was a, that was one that kind of made, it got fast tracked just because we saw it [00:20:00] something that was a huge need and we just didn't wanna wait on that. 

Sarah: Well, the community pride around an excellent educational opportunity and then meeting kids where they are and where they wanna, I think that's awesome.

So let's talk about how you balance all of this with having family and, you know, life of your own. I know you have three, uh, way from grownups to eighth graders, right? You're 

Travis: gonna ask my wife this question. I stay very well. I'm not, I'm not, I'm gonna have to listen to this though. And she gets verify. 

Sarah: So how do you stay motivated and somewhat balanced?

Which I know is very difficult in, 

Travis: it's hard, but I think it's one of those things where I know when. My wife Heather, and I first met, I was a young teacher and a coach, and I think she saw that passion. She saw how I approach things and I want to think that's one of the reasons why she fell in love with me, because I don't have a whole lot more to offer.

I know I wasn't gonna, but again, I, I, uh, but I think she saw that and she saw the way that I approach things. And one thing we've done is she's been right along for the ride. She always teases every year we're gonna go to prom together. And she, I get to go to prom forever because I get to go with the chaperone.[00:21:00] 

She was one that was always, she's just been so supportive. You mentioned the coaching thing. I mean, it's not a lack of coach's why a coach's spouse has to have a special way about them. Mm-hmm. And a patient's an understanding and, but I say that even my kids are the same way. I drug 'em along a lot of, especially the older two to a lot of things.

But they got to be around a lot of neat stuff. They love being up at school with me and all the different things. So it was a, it's just, it was a family affair for the most part. But having a supportive family, I don't think I. Would've been able to do the things that we would've able to do at the places that I've been without having them come along for the ride, but also understand that Dad has this role and this responsibility.

Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Sometimes they have to read this some, so on social media, sometimes they have to put it aside and understand that, and I always share with em myself. Part of that comes with a territory, but ultimately it's been their support that's enabled me to be at a lot of different places.

And again, I'm, because I'm probably not one that has. The balance necessary. That's probably one of the things that I've struggled with the most. Now, I have found that switching [00:22:00] roles to the district that I'm in now in Albany, Floyd County schools, I am able to find that a little bit more because of the way that I'm set up at the central office with the team that I have.

I had a great team at a smaller rural district, but I also, I was the only district level administrator in that office. So you wore many hats. It was transportation. Curriculum operations, everything fell under that one umbrella, and even though it was a much smaller entity, they still had all those different moving parts that you had to work with.

So therefore you would, the old variety shows for, you see the people spinning plates, you were running down here and getting this one going a little bit. Then okay, then this one was starting to fall off. So you would go down there and mess with that a little bit. So throughout the day you're going to different things and jumping around.

But it gave me, like I said, it goes back to the my path. It obviously lended me perspective and lended me experience in those different areas. Where I'm at now. I'm not saying my the job's any easier or any tougher, but I do have a lot of experts there. So I think I, I don't wanna, sure I sleep a little bit better, but it's one of those things where I know that I've got folks handling those things and instead of having to be a jack of [00:23:00] all traits, that's more trusting those people that you have in those roles.

And I feel like I got an incredible team that that was able to inherit some. And there's others that we've brought in. That I get a chance to work with. Mm-hmm. And, and to know that all the different things are being handled appropriately. So I've probably, in the last three years, found a little bit better balance because of that.

Mm-hmm. So, yeah. 

Sarah: What do you hope your kids will take away from your leadership style? They jump into their lives. 

Travis: I hope that they've seen somebody that genuinely cares. I try to lead with compassion and empathy and everything that I do, treat everybody the way that. That you wanna be treated. And I'm not perfect.

None of us are, but the way that I've approached the career that I've been blessed to have, I feel like I've always that been somebody that considers myself a servant leader and that I'm there to, to work for the community that I've blessed to have an opportunity to be a part of. I try to do that with the actions that I work with on a daily basis, how I treat everyone, and then also with the words that I choose and words that I use.

And even when [00:24:00] somebody is as upset as they can be, 'cause many times they are. I think that I use the three H theories when people come in to meet with me. And I always try to open my door to anybody is you're gonna be able to, you're gonna be able to do. I say they just wanna be heard. Mm-hmm. They just need somebody to listen.

And then maybe there's some that you're gonna be able to help. They're gonna bring something in and you're gonna be able to point 'em in the right direction and help 'em. And some of 'em just need a hug. I mean, it's figuratively or literally, they just need somebody to listen and somebody that shows them that care.

So that's kind of how I've approached things, whether I was. From a teacher to a principal is identifying 'cause you're not gonna be able to help everybody and you're not gonna able to solve their problem exactly the way they want it solved. It's just right. And it may just be that they just wanna listen.

They just want somebody listen and hear them. And there's others that just wanna feel support. And so I hope that my kids have seen. Their dad put his blood, sweat and tears into something he believes in. And I hope that they feel like that. Especially my older two children and, and my younger one because this spent 21 years, which was a long time at where they went to school and I felt like we built something really, really special and [00:25:00] I felt they hope, they felt like they gotta have a chance to, that their dad's work with the people that they got to be a part of was worth some of the sacrifices that we had to make too.

I think they see that. So at the end of the day, that's what I wanted to chase is have this. Mm-hmm. My job's challenging our jobs and all educator's jobs are challenging, but when I stop having fun and I stop enjoying it, then it's time, you know? And so my hope is that they can find something they're passionate about, just as I have been to where when you are putting the time in and the effort in and that you get that fulfillment from it.

And that's what I want them to chase. And I hope they see that I've been able to do that in my career, and I want the same for them. And whatever they, whatever path they choose to go in. 

Sarah: So it's, uh, college acceptance season. The letters starting to come out for kids. A bunch of young people are gonna start next fall and wanna be teachers.

Yeah. Wanna be young educators. What, what would you tell them about what's changed in education and what they, what do they need to know? 

Travis: I think it's the best profession. I'm biased because I think it's the profession that makes all other professions possible. I think it takes [00:26:00] special people, and I don't think AI's coming and here and all these other things, but.

I still think kids need somebody that's gonna stand up and believe in them and be somebody there to be their cheerleader, but also be there to coach them, to push them, to motivate them, and also to just be somebody that cares outside of my family. I mean, I look back and I have so many fond memories of folks that did that for me and throughout my time and I, I'm in, I tell kids at graduation when I used to speak at graduation.

Seniors look around. You obviously have your family here, you have teachers here, you have coaches here. I said, there's never gonna be a time in your life where so many people have poured into you and want and have been so invested in your success as they have these last 13 years. Mm-hmm. From pre-K or kindergarten, all the way up to 12th grade.

There's been a lot of people working, whether it's the school board that's sent behind me, or your administrators, your teachers, your counselors, all the people that are in this room are in this gymnasium or the auditorium or wherever. Wherever you're having the ceremony. There's never gonna be a time in your life you're gonna have that, that many people that are invested in your success.

It's true. So [00:27:00] take stock in it, be thankful of it. But for somebody that's going in that's thinking about, I mean, it's the best profession out there because you can truly make a difference. And it's hard, many times, frustrating. But our whole is to build great teams at our buildings to where they don't feel alone.

And that's one thing I stress to our teachers when I have an opportunity to speak with 'em. And we do. This monthly communication is lean on one another, you're in your room and you can, sometimes you're feel like an on an island, but with strength in numbers and you're all going through similar things.

And just as I lean back on my experiences going into the other teacher's classroom, getting reinvigorated, trying to find different avenues to do that. But when you start to feel like you're up against it, reach out and lean on one another. 'cause that's what true teams do. I think we've got some unbelievable, we got a lot of unbelievable people that are in it for the right reasons and.

So a truly way to make an impact on the future of our county, but also our area, our state, our country, and we need great people and we need great people that that want to embrace that. And if you wanna make a difference, that's the best [00:28:00] career out there. I feel. My wife always tells me all the time she wish she would've done it because I think she sees the satisfaction that I get.

A lot of times it comes with a lot of drawbacks. And I never saw myself, I never saw myself being in the role that I'm in now. It's just worked its way and it happened. But ultimately. I still consider myself a teacher each and every day, an educator and here for kids. And that's how I base a lot of the decisions that come to my desk on what's best for kids and how can we put programs together that are gonna make the experience better for them and their families.

Awesome. 

Sarah: So before we wrap up, one final question that I ask everybody, uh, what are you reading right now? Or what's a book that you go back to again? And here? 

Travis: The last year I've really been in hand. It's kind of neat because it's a book that was written by educators from Brownsburg. And they went through a similar situation that we're going through now to Alban Floyd County Schools, where basically when I got here, and it's a book called Arrows and it was put together by one of their assistants of instruction leader in English department.

And we did a book study with my district level leadership team. Uh, and then we also had our ability administrators. [00:29:00] And it built really speaks to cutting out the fat, really diving into what's important, and then getting those arrows aligned in the same direction. From a systematic standpoint, and I felt like we've got a lot of different initiatives, a lot of different challenges that come our way, but how can we get those and when we've stumbled upon it a little bit about a year ago.

As we were having some of these conversations, and we've been able to develop a real unique partnership of Brownsburg schools, which that's where they, that's where that the book matriculated from were very similar in size and demographics. So we saw their data and we looked at where we were in comparison and saw that there were some areas that we felt like, Hey, they're.

If they're making this work, and let's find out the why behind it. So they've been very gracious and given us a lot of time, but we did a significant study that I keep looking back on is, and that we keep referring back to as far as from a leadership standpoint, but also from a systematic standpoint as far as making sure we're, 'cause when your arrows are going all kinds of different directions, that gets frustrating and it does, it does eat away at morale.

Mm-hmm. You know, and then when we do decide to make a decision on. We're gonna [00:30:00] try this program, we're gonna try this maybe new idea. Does it align with what we're doing? And if it doesn't, then we're not gonna do it unless it aligns and or so again, it's trying to eliminate the things that don't, that don't align with that mission.

And then the things that do, let's do 'em to fidelity and let's do 'em. Right? Let's make sure that all of our arrows and we're all in the same direction, because I feel like it's only gonna make our district stronger and we hope our teachers feel, and everybody that's around those teachers, the support staff, whether it's transportation or facilities or food service.

Making sure that we're all moving in that same direction, because that's gonna be, it's gonna make us the most effective, but it's also gonna make us the most efficient. I feel like it's gonna, it's gonna power everyone. And so that's probably, if you add one that's still at the top of my list and one that we're still living on a daily basis, it's that one.

And that's been something that we feel, I feel like spend a difference maker and something that, at least at the right time for us mm-hmm. As a team to really talk, take a look at and dive into. 

Sarah: That's a great recommendation. And what I haven't, what I haven't heard yet, it's fun to hear what's inspiring people who we talk to.

Dr. [00:31:00] Madison, thank you for sharing your story, your perspective. I love how you think about relationships. I'm gonna remember the three Hs. That's good. That's not, 

Travis: you know, I've heard it before, so I've kind of, it's not mine, so I can't take 

Sarah: heard held hugs. 

Travis: Yeah, 

Sarah: I think that's a great way to think about it.

So thank you. And for our listeners, be sure to follow Illuminate navigating the Unknown through creative leadership on your favorite podcast platform, and connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn at Schmidt Associates. And until next time, keep navigating the unknown with creativity and calm.