Spotlight 4 Success | "A Mentor Saw the Teacher in Me Before I Did" | SCABSE 2026

5/13/2026

A lot of people show up to an education conference hunting for a single magic strategy. We show up looking for something better: ideas that actually fit real classrooms and real kids. From sunny Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the SCABSE 2026 Conference, I sit down with guest Taurus Hugee for a fast, honest conversation about what it means to “heighten education” while keeping it personal and true to who you are as an educator. Website: spotlight4success.com

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Spotlight 4 Success | "How to Turn “At-Risk” Into “On Track” | SCABSE 2026

5/12/2026

A 98.6% graduation rate with students who arrive not on track to graduate doesn’t happen by accident, and it definitely doesn’t happen by labeling kids and hoping for the best. From the SCAPSE conference in Myrtle Beach, we sit down with Cedrick Richie, principal at Excel Learning Academy in Richland One School District, to get specific about what equity-driven leadership looks like when it’s built into the daily culture of a school. Website: spotlight4success.com

ABC Testimonial | Rochelle Brown | NCASA 2026

5/7/2026

A missed question should not be a dead end; it should be a map. We dig into what makes standards-based textbooks and assessments feel genuinely helpful for students and sustainable for teachers, using American Book Company resources as the jumping-off point. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Leading with Learning" | NCASA 26

5/5/2026

A single conference hallway can tell you a lot about what educators are carrying and what they still hope to build. From the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, we sit down with Rochelle Brown, a CMS biology teacher with 26 years in education and a North Carolina Principal Fellow preparing for a full-year internship at Croft Community Schools in Charlotte. She talks candidly about the mix of excitement and nerves that comes with stepping toward school leadership and why being part of a cohort and a strong university program matters when you’re trying to grow. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "What Happens When Tutoring Becomes a Relationship" | NCASA 26

5/5/2026

We’re recording from the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, and we keep hearing the same challenge from school and district leaders: students need more support, but schedules and staffing are already stretched thin. So we sat down with Rene and Connie from Book Nook to get specific about what scalable high impact tutoring can look like when it’s built for real schools, real constraints, and real outcomes. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "How Schools Get Real Support" | NCASA 26

5/4/2026

We’re recording from the NCASA conference in North Carolina, and we sit down with Taylor Simmons, Director of Creative Design at Achievable Dream Urban Learning Leadership Center (AADULLC). If you’ve ever wondered what real school improvement looks like when it’s tailored to a district’s actual needs, this conversation gets specific fast. Taylor breaks down how AADULLC operates as an education consulting partner, building customizable K-12 learning solutions that go beyond one-size-fits-all programs. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Who Do You Become When You Lead?" | NCASA 26

5/4/2026

We’re recording from the NCASA Conference in Wellington, North Carolina, and we sit down with Ashley, a fifth-grade teacher from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools who’s stepping into a new season of education leadership. After 14 years in the classroom, she’s now a principal fellow through North Carolina Central, preparing for an administrator internship next year. That transition brings a big question: how do you move from being responsible for one room of learners to leading adults, systems, and school-wide success? Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Future-Ready School Leadership" | NCASA 26

4/29/2026

Leadership doesn’t start the day you get the title. It starts in the rooms where you admit what you still need to learn, then go get it. From the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina, I sit down with Tanika and Tony, two Wake County Public Schools educators preparing for the next step as principal fellows connected to North Carolina Central University through CCP3 and their MSA pathway. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "How To Turn Pressure Into A Diamond" | NCASA 26

4/29/2026

A surprise meetup at NCASA turns into a deep dive on what values based leadership looks like when you actually practice it every day. We sit down with Gina Watts, VP of U.S. Student Transformation at Growing Leaders, and Molly from the student transformation team, to talk about the Maxwell Leadership principles behind their work and why those principles still matter in real schools with real constraints. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Paid Principal Residency, Real Leadership" | NCASA 26

4/28/2026

A paid principal residency sounds almost too good to be true, but North Carolina is doing it and doing it with real rigor. From the floor of the NCASA Conference in Wellington, we sit down with Lauren, director of the North Carolina Principal Fellows Program, to unpack how the state is strengthening school leadership by investing in a clear pathway from educator to administrator. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "When Recognition Becomes Instant" | NCASA 26

4/27/2026

A student prevents a fight before it starts, and a principal turns it into a moment the whole class will remember. That’s the kind of fast, specific recognition that can shift school culture, and it’s the heart of our conversation from the NCASA conference in Wilmington, North Carolina with Dean Cook, Sales Manager at Presentation Solutions. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Leading Through Educational Technology" | KAST 26

4/22/2026

Educational leadership can feel like a mystery from the outside, so we wanted to make it concrete. We talk with Jessica, a vice president in a statewide education technology organization, about what her role looks like day to day, what she’s learning on the board, and how she’ll step into the president role next. Along the way, we get into why consistent communication like newsletters matters for keeping schools informed about edtech trends and what’s changing across a state. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "3D Printing In Elementary Schools" | KAST 26

4/22/2026

You can feel it in the hallway conversations at KAST: schools are not asking whether technology belongs in the classroom anymore. The real question is how to make it matter. From Louisville, Kentucky, I sit down with digital learning coaches Erica and Sandy to unpack what it takes to support teachers when devices, apps, and expectations keep changing. Website: spotlight4success.com

Spotlight 4 Success | "Why K-12 Districts Choose Byte Speed PCs" | KAST 26

4/21/2026

A school device rollout can look perfect on paper and still fail in the real world if support is slow, warranties are short, and deployment is a slog. That’s why we sat down with Garrett, an account manager at Byte Speed, to talk about what actually makes K-12 IT feel smooth for districts, teachers, and students. Byte Speed has been working with Kentucky schools for decades, and Garrett shares what they listen for when they meet districts at conferences: the everyday pain points behind “we need computing solutions.” Website: spotlight4success.com

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