CASSOPOLIS — With a bright smile and welcoming demeanor, Lauren Sheeley is ready to take on her role as the new assistant principal at Sam Adams Elementary School.

Sheeley has not been with the district long. She began working for the district as a summer school teacher in August 2017 before taking time off as a full-time staff member to stay home after she had her second child. She stayed connected with the school district by substitute teaching a few days a week and was offered and accepted the position of reading coordinator in January.

Then Sheeley was named assistant principal at a Cassopolis Public Schools special board of education meeting on Aug. 6. Even though she has not been with the district for long, she is excited to be a part of it.

“I like the community,” Sheeley said. “I like the hometown feel — the fact that everyone seems to know each other and they can greet each other by first name. I think it’s so vitally important that you feel that connection.”

She believes that creating a connection with students and parents is also important to her role as assistant principal. An important part of that will be to build community, which includes learning all of the students’ and parents’ names and understanding how to be help them with their educational needs.

This stretches to other community members, from partnering with residents to local business owners.

“I think that is my number one goal, to build those relationships and build them in such a manner that we are almost dependent on one another,” she said. “A strong community builds a strong school, and a strong school builds a strong community.”

Another part of Sheeley’s role will be implementing the New Tech model in fourth, fifth and sixth grade at the elementary school. She has some experience with project-based learning from her time working at the elementary level in Niles Community Schools.

She got her first teaching job in Elkhart as a reading interventionist after graduating from Purdue University with a degree in education, but when she was in high school, she was not sure what she wanted to do.

“The story is I applied [several] universities and prayed about it,” she said. “I’m a firm believer and I said, ‘whatever response I get back first, my Lord, that is what I will do with my life. I know you will pave the way for me in whatever shape and form.’”

She applied to five different universities and waited.

“I remember on a Wednesday I went out to my mailbox and received this thick envelope from Purdue University,” she said. “I had been accepted into the college of education and waitlisted for the school of business.”

She had her answer. Since then, she said doors have “swung open for her” as she has advanced in her educational career. In Elkhart, she quickly moved from reading interventionist to a first-grade teacher. Her next stop was Niles. She gained experience helping students with dyslexia overcome their struggles with reading, which led to more leadership opportunities.

In total, she has been in education for eight years.

“I think there’s something to be said about having a range of experiences when you become an administrator,” Sheeley said. “Things come at you that you’ve probably dealt with in some capacity, so you can draw on those experiences [you’ve had].”

Her hope is that those experiences prepare her well for her new role as assistant principal.

“I’m just really excited,” she said. “This is a welcoming and warm community — not just staff, but also the parents I’ve already met from being here last year. It’s their excitement, their bubbly attitudes. It’s just an encouraging place to be and I’m so excited to be a part of the team.”