Northview — Lindsey Grinwis has taken a long, winding and diverse path to becoming the new principal of Crossroads Middle School this year.
Even though she’s been at Crossroads for the past 20 years, there was a time when she thought she’d be wearing a police badge. She almost moved to Colorado. She helped guide kids who had been removed from their homes. She became an expert waitress for a local sports team.
Through it all, there’s been a common thread guiding everything she does: teamwork.
“It’s all teamwork. I see it in so many different capacities,” Grinwis said. “And that’s what this (education) profession is all about at the end of the day: coming together and people working together toward a common goal. It’s become so important to me to watch our kids find something they can connect to. Even if it’s not sports — art club, or drama club, or cooking and baking club. … I think that there’s just so many life lessons that are connected to working with a team.”
SNN gets to know the new principal better in this edition of Meet Your Administrators.
Other positions you have held in education: Grinwis has spent all her 20 years in education at Crossroads. She was hired to teach science and math, and also took on the role of athletic coordinator, responsible for being at all after-school sporting events. After five years in the classroom, she moved to the main office to become Crossroads’ dean of students and athletic director; three years ago, her administrative title changed to assistant principal.
Athletics has been (and remains) a huge part of Grinwis’ life at Crossroads, and she admits that having to let go of that piece to focus on becoming principal this fall has been bittersweet.
“I really love everything about athletics — it’s been like part of my identity,” she said. “You get to see kids doing what they love and you get to connect with kids in ways that are so different than just ‘traditional school.’ Sometimes you see kids who might not be as strong in the classroom, but they are amazing and wonderful teammates. And I loved it. I loved every minute of those long nights, being here until seven o’clock. It was hard for me to let go of that. But I knew it needed to be transitioned out.”
‘It’s become so important to me to watch our kids find something they can connect to. … I think that there’s just so many life lessons that are connected to working with a team.’
— Lindsey Grinwis, Crossroads Middle School principal
Education/degrees:
- Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, Michigan State University
- Bachelor’s degree in secondary education and biology, Western Michigan University
- Master’s degree in educational leadership, Grand Valley State University
Your degree background looks like it tells a story. What other positions have you held outside of Crossroads? Although she grew up as the daughter of two educators, Grinwis had her mind set on law enforcement. She interned with the Michigan State Police, at the Jackson State Police Post, while a student at Michigan State and was set to enter the police academy after graduation.
But when state budget cuts put the academy on hold, “I floundered for a while. I went to Colorado, had an interview set up with a police department there and chickened out at the last minute. Called and told them I’d changed my mind.”
Back in West Michigan, she took a job at Pine Rest, where she spent six years working in group homes for adolescents.
“I was 21 years old, basically raising kids who had baggage galore and had been removed from their homes for any number of reasons. I probably learned more about working with kids in that role than I did later in student teaching. Partway through my time there, I had the realization that I wasn’t going to go back to law enforcement.”
With her heart now set on education, Grinwis went back to school for a second bachelor’s degree and her teaching certificate. She continued working at Pine Rest while commuting to Western Michigan University, while student teaching in Muskegon, and even at the beginning of her teaching tenure at Northview — before she took on the added stipend role of athletic coordinator.
Even now, Grinwis clearly relishes being busy. This season she took a part-time job at Fifth Third Ballpark as a waitress for the West Michigan Whitecaps, serving fans seated in the “4Topps” section. Despite what she described as “the worst training I’ve ever had,” and having never worked as a server before, “I really, really love that job,” she said.
Why?
“It’s the team there. I’m telling you, it all goes back to teamwork. Everybody comes together to make it such a great experience, for us as the workers and for everybody who walks in those doors. Nobody taught us to look for ways we can help out, but people just do it. … I cannot figure out why that place is such a special, happy place and why the teamwork and camaraderie is so strong, but it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
The job made such an impact that it inspired her Crossroads staff back-to-school kick-off this year: “‘Let’s play ball.’ That’s our theme. (I shared) this story about how I went from feeling like I wasn’t prepared for anything, to feeling like we are such a strong, united team and knowing that people will do whatever they need to make it a special place. And we’ll do that here (at Crossroads). That’s what we’re going to run with this school year.”
What would you like to share about your family? Grinwis and husband, Nick, have been married 20 years and have three children; high school senior Nash and eighth-grader Breslyn attend Rockford Public Schools, while sophomore Landyn is at Northview High School. Golf is a big part of their lives: Grinwis regularly plays with a group of Crossroads staffers, Landyn is on Northview’s varsity golf team, Nick works part time at Scott Lake Golf Course and Nash used to work at Scott Lake.
“I feel like we’re in this stage of life right now where Nick and I are just the taxi drivers, shuffling kids everywhere. Landyn is really involved in all things athletics, which is a big reason why she ended up here in Northview, and we have gotten a lot of good quality time together with me being our bus driver.”
What books/television/podcasts have you been loving lately? “I’m a huge fan of (reality competition show) “Big Brother” and I love mystery books. I also try to keep up on young adult books so that I can have conversations with our students about what they’re reading — it’s such an easy way to connect with kids. Except science fiction. I can’t get into it.”
Name three great things about going into K-12 education:
1. “Time with the kids.”
2. “Being part of a team.”
3. “Being able to — especially in middle school — help families through what can sometimes be a really difficult, challenging time.”
Describe your leadership style in seven words or less: “Whatever it takes to make it happen.”
What is one thing on your bucket list? “I want to skydive really badly. It has been on my bucket list for a very long time. I bungee jumped once in high school, but I just had this conversation with my daughter in the last couple of weeks, that I want to skydive. I said that I will for my 50th birthday.”
How will you encourage student voice at Crossroads? “It is so important. If we don’t have the kids’ buy-in, if we don’t get them wanting to be here, this is just a building. We need to listen to them and take anything and everything they have to say into consideration, because we need them to want to be here. I’m in the lunch room every day, and I have been for 15 years, because that’s where they’re with their people, in their habitat, and you can just have good conversation. I want them to see that I’m approachable and they know we listen to them.”
Read more from Northview:
• What’s in store for these middle-schoolers? ‘A great year’
• Learning garden’s growth fueled by veggies, students, ‘lots of love’
