{"id":834,"date":"2025-04-15T15:21:49","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T19:21:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/online\/?p=834"},"modified":"2025-04-15T15:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T19:33:10","slug":"a-passion-for-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bsu.edu\/online\/2025\/04\/a-passion-for-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"A Passion for Leading"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lindsay Amstutz\u2019s journey as a principal began as a high school and middle school social studies teacher, juggling her teaching responsibilities and coaching duties for the volleyball and basketball teams. While passionate about her work in the classroom, Amstutz recognized a growing interest in leading and influencing the broader school environment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI was always involved in committees and leadership teams, and I realized that I enjoyed leading adults and was particularly interested in fostering a positive school climate and culture,\u201d Amstutz said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">This realization led Amstutz to pursue a master\u2019s degree in education, which then \u201cjust made sense,\u201d to start a career in administration, Amstutz said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amstutz graduated with her <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bsu.edu\/academics\/collegesanddepartments\/online\/academic-programs\/masters\/maedadmin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Master\u2019s in Educational Administration and Supervision<\/a> from Ball State University in 2011. She is a principal at Northcrest Elementary and previously served at Fairfield Elementary School from 2012 to 2020.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Mentorship at Ball State<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amstutz acknowledges the invaluable guidance of Dr. Michael Shaffer, a former principal at Fort Wayne Community Schools, where she completed her internship for her Ball State courses. Shaffer encouraged her to pursue an assistant principal position.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLindsay is pure dynamite when it comes to school leadership. After working with me as an exceptional assistant principal, Lindsay became a principal in literally the toughest elementary school in that urban school district. Within a short time, she had led that school from failing to an A score,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amstutz said she was hesitant to apply for the assistant principal position, but Shaffer\u2019s encouragement was \u201cinstrumental\u201d in her decision.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cLindsay is literally the best elementary principal I know, and she excels in challenging areas,\u201d Shaffer said.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Motivation and Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">While most educators would say the students keep them motivated, Amstutz emphasized the crucial role of supporting in today\u2019s challenging educational landscape.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThe current climate presents numerous obstacles, with ever-changing legislation and limited funding,\u201d Amstutz explained. \u201cIt\u2019s crucial to ensure teachers have the resources and support they need to thrive and provide the best possible education for our students.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Building a Positive School Culture<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Amstutz prioritizes creating a positive and supportive environment for staff and students at Northcrest Elementary.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI believe that when teachers enjoy coming to work, they are more likely to give their best,\u201d Amstutz said. \u201cI had 100 percent of my staff return, which was the only school of 50 in our district that had that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">While opportunities have arisen for Amstutz to pursue roles in central office administration, she remains committed to serving as a building-level principal.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cIt&#8217;s challenging, but I do think it&#8217;s the most rewarding,\u201d Amstutz said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lindsay Amstutz\u2019s journey as a principal began as a high school and middle school social studies teacher, juggling her teaching responsibilities and coaching duties for the volleyball and basketball teams. While passionate about her work in the classroom, Amstutz recognized a growing interest in leading and influencing the broader school environment. \u201cI was always involved [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":421,"featured_media":859,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,77],"tags":[37,8,7,158],"class_list":["post-834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-and-faculty-stories","category-student-success","tag-educational-administration-and-supervision","tag-graduate","tag-masters","tag-online"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Passion for Leading - Ball State Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lindsay Amstutz&#039;s passion for being a leader led her to multiple careers as a teacher, coach and principal. 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