Wyoming — While still in the process of moving into his office as the new principal at Wyoming Intermediate School, Nathan Walters already had one thing in place — the 50 or so books lining a shelf along his window.
The titles include a variety of nonfiction and fiction reads: “Dare to Lead,” by Brene Brown; “Dream Big,” by Bob Goff; “Miseducated,” by Brandon Fleming; “A Thousand Splendid Suns,” by Khaled Hosseini; “The Mamba Mentality: How I Play,” by Kobe Bryant; and about a dozen “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books.
Reading, Walters said, is a tool for growth, a message he took from an administrator he worked with earlier in his career who “very much lived by the title of the principal being the lead learner.”
“I think if we always want staff to be growing in their practice, it’s important to model that as a leader,” he said. “Reading is a way to educate myself, to make sure that I’m continuing to stay up on what works as we do this hard work in public education.
“(Personally, it’s about) growing as a human and wanting to be the best person that I can be. Whether that’s faith books, or self-help books or leadership books, I want to always try to walk that race of trying to be the best version of myself that I can be.”
He keeps the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books on hand for students – knowing they are a go-to for fifth- and sixth-graders.
“I know from my time teaching fifth grade, those were always the books that would fly off the shelves the fastest,” he said.
‘Collaboration is so important to the work that we do and our kids get only one chance at this. The job is too hard for any one person to do by themselves.’
— Principal Nathan Walters
Get to know Walters further in this edition of Meet Your Administrators:
Other positions you have held in education:
- Fifth-grade teacher at Bowen Elementary in Kentwood Public Schools
- Dean of students at Godfrey-Lee Early Childhood Center
- Principal at Emmons Lake Elementary School
What about jobs outside education? “The most pivotal job for me in terms of setting my trajectory into public education was in college. I worked at the Boys and Girls Club in Grand Rapids. Through that work experience, my passion for public education started.
“(Also), I worked at a marina in Saugatuck for a while. I watched a family of three boys. I was a manny — that was the term.”
Education/degrees:
- Bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a minor in integrated science and math from Calvin College
- Masters in education leadership from Calvin
What drew you to Wyoming Intermediate School? “Initially, I was drawn to Wyoming for the student demographic we get to serve here. It is a resilient group of students and there is so much they can teach us as adults. (Also), As I went through the interview process, I felt really comfortable and supported by the central office team here. … They are a phenomenal group of leaders that lean in to take the posture of walking alongside their building principals and make sure we feel supported in the work that we do.
“Also, I taught fifth and sixth grade, so, from an instructional leadership standpoint, I feel like I bring a lot to the table in terms of teaching and learning.”
Why did you want to become an administrator? He said principals in Kentwood and Godfrey-Lee served as champions for him and provided opportunities for him to grow as a leader.
“I’ve always had natural leadership capabilities and I was incredibly blessed and fortunate to work with some phenomenal leaders in my time as a teacher. … It’s true that great leaders grow more great leaders.”
What would you like to share about your family? Walters grew up in West Michigan, attending Holland Christian High School with a brother and sister.
“My dad is a retired police officer in Holland. He works for Hope College now and helps out with campus safety. My mom works for the church we grew up in.”
What ideas or strategies will you bring to WIS from your previous positions? “From a teaching and learning perspective, I get to bring a lot of knowledge that was imparted on me from working with instructional coaches in Kentwood. I get to now coach teachers in their practice, also having walked in their shoes as a classroom teacher. That’s powerful.
Ultimately, I take with me from my previous stops the power of collaboration as a principal, creating the conditions that allow teachers to focus on doing the hard work of teaching and learning and focusing on their students.
“Collaboration is so important to the work that we do and our kids get only one chance at this. The job is too hard for any one person to do by themselves. If we can really lean on each other and link arms and walk the walk together, it gives us a better chance to be successful. Success for us obviously looks like improving student outcomes for our kids.”
Describe your leadership style in seven words or less: “A relational servant leader.”
What is one thing on your bucket list? “I’d love one day to take a trip to Israel and do a walk the Bible-type tour.”
What kind of kid were you at the age of the students in your building?
“I was a sports kid! That, if I am being honest, was probably too much of an identity for me at that time … but I do see now looking back that there is so much that can be transferable between sports and the real world.
“I look at myself now and the role I get to play and see how many of those skills were developed on the basketball court or in the locker room. … Probably the biggest one is just hard work and the idea that if you want to get better at something you have to work hard at it and things don’t go to people who are always looking to take the easy way out.
“It even goes past that and into the idea of being part of something bigger than yourself in sports. That’s very applicable to the real world too. Even with the work we do here, (a goal is) get our students to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves, that WIS is part of who they are and being a student in Wyoming is part of their identity.”
If you could choose to have a superpower, what would it be? “The ability to be in more than one place at the same time. Professionally, that would be very helpful.
“A personal superpower would be teleportation. As I’ve gotten older, I think the idea of traveling to more and more places becomes more and more appealing but the logistics of it sometimes get in the way. There’s nothing worse than a long car ride or plane ride. Taking the travel time out of travel would be phenomenal.”
Read more from Wyoming:
• Longtime EL instructor named director of multilingual programming
• With dusters, brooms and-teamwork, custodial crew tackles summer cleaning
