Gregg excited for new journey

After teaching for six years in Jay County, Julie Gregg is ready to begin a new journey and has been working toward her goal for a year.
Gregg, 28, a native of Wells County, will be the new acting principal of Redkey Elementary when school begins Monday. She will be working as acting principal until she completes her internship to receive her Master of Arts in Educational Administration and Supervision degree from Ball State University. She succeeds Tom Jerles, who was principal at the school for more than 20 years.
She accepted a position teaching fourth grade at General Shanks Elementary in Portland for the 2008-09 school year. After a year, Gregg transferred to Bloomfield Elementary, south of Bryant, and taught kindergarten there for five years.
“I did not know a single soul,” Gregg recalled when she began teaching at General Shanks, adding that everyone was welcoming and supportive. “I was very happy in Jay County, so I stayed.”
She has been attending Ball State for a year, taking nine credit hours per semester while teaching full-time, and completed her work this summer.
“I’m finished with all of my classes,” Gregg said, which was her goal before starting her new position.
Her internship will be completed while she is acting principal at Redkey.
Three projects are required for her internship, but Gregg plans to complete even more as acting principal. So she will choose the top three for her internship.
“I was interested in being in a leadership position,” Gregg said as the reason for pursing her master’s degree.
After training teachers in Jay School Corporation about how to administer the DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) test to kindergarten through second grade students, she knew she wanted to work with teachers and students to help improve their academics.
“That’s where my interest sparked,” Gregg remembers.
She officially began her duties at Redkey on July 25.
“The other principals have been wonderful,” Gregg said, noting that she received calls or emails from each principal in the corporation on her first day that welcomed her and offered their help.
Knowing how important it was to meet the faculty and staff before the first day, she held a meet and greet June 27 at the school.
Gregg is a 2004 graduate of Bluffton High School and earned her degree in elementary education from Anderson University in 2008.
“I’m very excited to meet the community of Redkey,” Gregg said.
She has plans to visit each classroom the first day of school to introduce herself to students and read the book “What Principals Do When No One Is Looking,” by Jim Grant and Irv Richardson. Gregg said teachers were very welcoming to the idea, and she wants all students to be able to go home and tell their parents that they met the principal.
“The staff here have been fantastic,” Gregg said.