Exploring Single-Sex Education, Mission-Oriented Leadership, and Tech Advancement in Independent Schools

Narrator 00:02
Welcome to Talking Technology with ATLIS, the show that plugs you into the important topics and trends for technology leaders all through a unique independent school lens. We'll hear stories from technology directors and other special guests from the independent school community and provide you will focus learning and deep dive topics. And now please welcome your host, Christina Lewellen.

Christina Lewellen 00:25
Hello everyone and welcome back to Talking Technology with ATLIS. I'm Christina Lewellen, the executive director of the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools.

Bill Stites 00:34
And I'm Bill Stites, the Director of Technology at Montclair Kimberly Academy in Montclair, New Jersey.

Hiram Cuevas 00:39
And I'm Hiram Cuevas, Director of Information Systems and Academic Technology at St. Christopher's school in Richmond, Virginia.

Christina Lewellen 00:46
We are doing this once again, I'm glad to be with you back on the stage for a live from the ATLIS conference podcast. So we're getting towards the end of this event at the time that we're recording this. So I think everybody's brain is sort of turning to mush, but we have a really killer guest with us today. So are you guys rallying? Are you having a second wind?

Bill Stites 01:07
100%.

Hiram Cuevas 01:08
Absolutely.

Christina Lewellen 01:09
Okay. Welcome to the podcast. Tye Campbell, we are so glad we've been meaning to have you on the podcast. We're so glad we're doing it live in person. This is a treat. Thanks

Tye Campbell 01:18
for having me. I've been excited to be a part of this. So looking forward to our conversation here today.

Christina Lewellen 01:22
Tell us who you are, where you work. And what's your job? Like? What do you do? Yeah,

Tye Campbell 01:27
great question. So Tye Campbell, Director of Strategic Information and Innovation at Gilman School in Baltimore, Maryland. I'm in my eighth year there now. And I oversee now technology and libraries. And it's been a fun ride where I feel like I get to be involved in a lot of different areas of school life, which is a lot of fun. I kind of poke my head sometimes in places where they may not belong. But it's always fun to get in there and see what's going on and see how I can shake things up a little bit.

Christina Lewellen 01:54
So tell me about the demographics at Gilman. Yeah, so

Tye Campbell 01:57
we're pre K through 12. All boys. Over to come on now. We have just over 1000 students, we have a really cool coordination program with Bryn Mawr school, and Roland Park Country School, which are to pre K through 12. All girls schools, ones across the street to the east and ones across the street to the north. And so we have a really great opportunity for our boys and girls to take classes together starting in high school, mainly 11th and 12th grades, but some of the languages start in ninth. And so as much as my office resides in the upper school building, sometimes you forget that we're an all boys school because of the number of girls that are walking through our hallways. So it's pretty neat. I have a ninth grader right now who goes to Roland Park country school along with a third grader. My ninth grader has promised me she is not taking any classes that are going to be coming because she doesn't want to see me.

Christina Lewellen 02:45
No doubt action in school.

Tye Campbell 02:46
No, no, she's had enough of that. That was good when she was little but she's that'll turn around. It was always daddy's girl. She loves me. But she doesn't want to see me at work.

Christina Lewellen 02:57
Molly Rumsey we interviewed live here at the conference. And she works at an all girls school. And we asked her about what makes an all girls school special. And then I asked Hiram what makes an all boys school special. So I'm going to pose the same question to you. What makes Gilman special being just a boys population? Yeah, there

Tye Campbell 03:12
is something I think really special about single sex education and being particularly out of the boys school, which is my first time at a boys school. It's unique in that everything that you see happening on campus, whether it is performing arts, whether it is learning in the classroom, whether it is visual arts, it's all done by the boys. And so there's nothing as a boy is growing up and coming through the younger grades and moving on up. And he's seeing artwork hanging in the hallways, and he's seeing seeing groups performing on stage, there's nothing that tells him Oh, that's what girls do. That's only something that's for girls and the boys, you stick to what's happening on the fields, for example, they see everything happening, I realized that boys that are doing it, and so they can participate in that when they get older. And so it's really encouraging that it takes away those societal restrictions of saying these are what the boys do. These are what the girls do, and it allows them to pursue anything they want. That's awesome that I love it. Yeah.

Christina Lewellen 04:06
Before I turn this over, because I know Bill and Hiram, have some questions for you. What about your journey? What's your origin story? Are you a teacher? Were you from it? How did you come to be in this position? Yeah,

Tye Campbell 04:17
so I was always the techie kid growing up, I was one of the first kids in my neighborhood to have a computer. And as much as I love being outside, I also loved being on my computer. And so summer times, especially what I did was I put my computer right up next to the front window, so I could have the window open. And while my friends were outside playing, I could be right there at the window interacting with them, which was a lot of fun. And sometimes I would get out and you know, play with football and so on. But I just absolutely love computers. My dad was a computer programmer. My mom was a still is a teacher, handling the little four year olds, and so I feel like I'm a really perfect blend of both of them. But I started pursuing studies, at least in computer science, didn't really love the whole programming thing at all. That just wasn't my deal. And so I wanted it do some education. But in the meantime, I got a part time job, doing help desk support, started doing that and had some fun doing that. My very first part time kind of job ish or summer job ish was working at the help desk at Time Magazine in New York, which was really, really awesome. And I did that for my first three summers out of high school. And so when I started with, like a real professional career, I was doing it and did that for 11 years, and then was like, I really want to be in the classroom, I want to be teaching, I want to be in a school. And so that's when I made the career change in 2013, to switch to going back to independent schools, and there truly is no looking back, I would not go back to an office if I was forced to it is something special about being around kids, about working with teachers, and really having an impact on the future and working for a mission oriented organization.

Christina Lewellen 05:47
It's awesome. I know I visited you at Gilman once. And you know, everyone that I mean, it's the goal, hands with the janitor, and you know who works behind the food line? Like, you know, everyone?

Tye Campbell 06:01
Yeah, I think you got to know everybody. If you want to make an impact, you got to know the people you're working with. And everybody matters, it doesn't matter what the role is, it doesn't matter what office they are in. It doesn't matter what type of work they do. We're all working towards the same mission. We're coming at it from different angles, but we're all working on the same thing. And so it's important to say hi to everybody, it's important to make sure everyone knows that you value the work that they do, regardless of what it looks like.

Bill Stites 06:24
It's one of the questions I actually have for you. And you talk about supporting the mission of the school and you talk about the work that everyone puts in. One of the things here at the conference, one of the things I love about the conference is and I've participated in this in a lot of different ways, is the CIRIS track that we have here. Because I think it aligns very well with the mission of not only Atlas, but the work that we do in it. And you talk about, you know, again, as you said, the mission and all the people and you have one of my favorite people at Gilman with Rachel Gorski in terms of the work that she does at Gilman, the work that I've done with her through Sirius through the creation of the guide book that we put together. But can you speak to how you at Gilman and through the work that she is doing, how you're advancing the areas in institutional research to meet the mission of Gilman with the work that she does in the work that you support her in?

Tye Campbell 07:17
Great question. So I'll start off perhaps with a little bit of the history of Rachel's position. So when I first got to Gilman in 2016, it didn't exist, we were using a part time person who was outside that was interested in this kind of work, and was helping the school move forward with some of this stuff. But then she moved on with her, like true professional work, which left us in a place where we needed to fill this void. And in my mind, I had as I was in the process of evaluating my own team being still relatively new there, I had an assistant that I was like, I don't really need an assistant, particularly one who was used to doing things for my predecessor, like scheduling calendars, and filling out invoices and stuff like that, I was like, here's an opportunity where I think we can make some change. And so we eliminated that position and created what is now Rachel's position and brought that into my department. And that has been I mean, such an incredible change. Now, it doesn't come without challenges, because I do believe creating the position is one thing, whether the school is ready or not to really move forward with Honduras. That's why I was curious, right. And so I think we're still in that transition phase of really understanding one, what we have in Rachel, she is fantastic. And there's so much capacity that she has, and there's so many high level things that she can do. And I think we're still in that phase of not only allowing her to do the work that she does, and then giving her the opportunity to do certain things. But then also leaning on that work and actually acting upon it, right, we get a lot of information, she presents these wonderful reports. And you know how it is sometimes you put a ton of work into something and maybe not go anywhere, or you may not even know if something's happening with it or not. And so she's in a place where she wants to do more, she's eager to do more, and also eager to see what happens, what are the results? What are the action steps that come out of the work that she does. And so we're still working through that. And I think changing the culture of our school to be a school that is data informed and ready to kind of take note that for the

Bill Stites 09:10
words very interesting, because I think it falls along the line. You know, we've all done consulting work. We're all you know, involved with educators, collaborators, we've all done this work. But I think it speaks to the idea that all of this work that we're doing, it's the marathon, it's not the sprint, it's not going to happen in this quick hit. It's stuff that's going to develop over months and years in terms of the work that needs to go into it. And I just I really applaud you and I applaud the school for really taking the initiative to invest in someone like her in the school and knowing what she is doing, not only at Gilman, but the work that she's doing that I've had the good fortune of sharing, you know, through Sirius and really advancing that mission because it's setting up the school in a thought leadership role in terms of you can point to yeah, there's somebody I know killing One that's doing this really, really well. And we need to go down and talk to that person, I think it sets her up, it sets you up, it sets the school up to really be in a great position. So thank you for having the forethought to advance that position, because it's benefiting all of

Tye Campbell 10:13
us. Yeah, thanks. And I'm particularly excited about how that's gonna even evolve over the next several months. So Rachel is going to be shifting to part time work with us starting this summer. And she's going to do the other part working with Michigan data. And so it's going to be really fantastic for her to have her foot in school, but also a foot into mission and data, working with other schools working with other places. And it's to me mutually beneficial. Yeah, that's really exciting. You

Bill Stites 10:37
know, Hiram, and I have talked about this, the work that you can do outside of the organization, benefits the organization, you don't have the single view of just your institution, you're able to go out to experience what others are doing the questions that are asking and saying, You know what, that's a question we should ask. It's why I love presenting here at the conference, because every presentation I've given here this week, has been with other people. And I've learned as much from them in preparing for that and having the conversations as I would if I was doing it on my own, if not more, so. So it's great. I love that

Tye Campbell 11:11
some organizations tend to be very insular, in terms of their learning. And I think ATLIS is one of the great places that demonstrates the value of learning from others taking that data. And that's where you get your best practices from, right. That's where you get the experience and not making the mistakes that others have already gone through and make schools move forward faster and better. So

Hiram Cuevas 11:31
Ty, we're so similar in that you're an old boy school, I'm an old boys, we have a coordinate program, you have a coordinate program, we also share another aspect of it, because in addition to being peer schools, and that is that we belong to the international Boys School coalition. That's right. And they've done a lot of research on how to teach boys best. And there's an interesting marriage between the research that they do, and also a lot of the work that ATLIS does, what have you taken away between that relationship? I've seen some nuggets here and there as well. But I'd be curious to see what you've learned,

Tye Campbell 12:00
you know, with the work that ATLIS has done, the presentations that we've heard, and certainly all the resources that ATLIS has provided, I think it goes to show the value of one kind of focusing to work. So international Boys School coalition is focused on educating boys, right ATLIS is focused on really professionalizing the technology leader role and how that looks. And granted, that looks different ways for a lot of folks here, right, but really professionalizing that work and giving people a path in order to move forward and grow themselves and improve themselves. You know, I had the luxury yesterday, of being the only male in the women in tech workshop, you went, Yes, I was the one who took the picture. And I saw she did that to support Denise. Right, because I mean, I think the work that she's doing is fantastic. But to me, it was so clear in that room as they were going through that presentation and at work to see the women so excited about the conversation, and the fact that they had a space in order to let those conversations flow, that if there's one example of just how powerful ATLIS can be in terms of connecting people and working together with folks, that was it. It was absolutely phenomenal.

Hiram Cuevas 13:12
So it's interesting, from our point of view at St. Christopher's, and I'm sure Gilman is the same way. The reason you're there is you love voice. Yes, I

Tye Campbell 13:19
don't have my own. So it really helps. I got 1000 instead.

Hiram Cuevas 13:23
But what's interesting here, when you're part of the ATLIS community, you can tell that ATLIS loves its people. Yes, it loves its

Tye Campbell 13:29
peeps. And you've sensed that from being here and talking to the folks who this is their first time here. And they're like, Whoa, I didn't know this existed. I didn't know what just like this feels different from an NAIS or an ISTE. There's community here. There's almost like a family feel here in a way that you just don't get from any other conference. And it's wonderful.

Christina Lewellen 13:51
So Tye during your time at this conference, you are wrapping up a journey of sorts, because you've been on the ATLIS board since I started as executive director. And you've wrapped up your I guess six years. And you have had a heck of a run you have touched almost every aspect of governance at ATLIS. I'm asking you, I guess to reflect on that for a moment.

Tye Campbell 14:13
Yeah, man, I've been doing that a lot lately, as this time in this phase has drawn to a close to see where ATLIS has come from, to where it is today is nothing short of just absolutely amazing. I remember my first board meeting and it was interesting, to say the least and to end where we ended with our board meeting this past Saturday. And just the the highest of the highs that it could possibly have been was just absolutely incredible. Christina, you're a huge part of that. And I think you know that and I hope you know that. Because we have gone to a place and gotten to a place that we're continuing to move forward that I didn't know was possible. After my first board meeting. I just really didn't know what that was like and to be able to see how we've had Advanced how we have matured, how we have set a path forward. That is, you know, back in my soccer days, my dad always used to tell me to not be looking down on my toes, but looking up of the field to see what was happening. That's how I feel we are and we're looking up the field and no longer at our feet, we've hit a stride, we're continuing to hit our stride. And, you know, seeing the attendance that we have here at the conference today is a reflection of that to see all the programming that ATLIS has today is a reflection of that the strength of our community is so incredibly strong and powerful. And something that just I think, is drawing a lot of folks in and again, I think that's a testament to you, Christina, I think that's a testament to the staff. I think certainly that's a testament to the board as well. And just I'm so excited for the future of ATLIS and how we're going to grow and how we're going to continue to be seen by others within the Independent School community, as a leader, as the experts as the mentors to really move us forward.

Christina Lewellen 15:55
I know that you and Bill have worked together on the TLIS. Yeah,

Bill Stites 16:01
you mentioned leadership, you mentioned looking ahead. And I think if there's anything that exemplifies the programming that ATLIS has put together, and that forward looking and really thinking about those that are going to come ahead of us is really the development of the TLIS credentialing program. And you and I spent three days together with a number of others kind of laboring over developing that program, putting those questions together, what do you look forward to? When it comes to seeing this program launching, you know, the, we're offering the exam here, you know, others have taken it already? Where do you see this? Taking things to the next level? Where do you look forward to in this in seeing this launch?

Tye Campbell 16:40
Yeah. So I think first and foremost, I'm excited about the next hiring cycle. I'm excited about the folks who are going to have those letters after the name to say they have sat for the exam, they've taken it, they are stamped as being people who ATLIS believes are ready for that leadership level, and having heads of school and CFOs looking for that when they're flipping through their resumes and separating their piles, and having fewer questions about who they're getting, and who's going to be coming in front of them to interview. I believe, the TLIS is a start, I believe it's going to continue to grow and continue to develop and with the rest of the programming that ATLIS has on building leadership within this community, it's just going to be so much stronger. And I'm also excited to see how other organizations are going to follow suit with us, I think we are leading in that way. And how what are they going to do to kind of mimic what ATLIS is doing, because it's just going to help so much in terms of the growth and the professionalization of tech leaders and independence.

Bill Stites 17:34
The one thing I think is really interesting with that is it lends for people like myself, you know, others that have been in this game for quite a while, I remember thinking about what my next step in my journey was going to be, and not having any place to turn because there wasn't the programs, you weren't able to get masters, you weren't able to get that you weren't able to get any type of advanced group any type of recognition because those programs didn't exist. And while they exist. Now, I think the TLIS kind of speaks to a different type of leadership role, a different type of credential that you can have associated with who you are even outside of what those advanced degrees offer because it takes theory and puts it into practice the exam in terms of what we worked on to put that together, it was really about practically demonstrating that you understand what's going on in this. And I remember, when I taught third grade, you know, I graduated from Montclair State University, I was teaching with people who graduated from Columbia Teachers College and two totally different types of educational experiences. But when the rubber had to meet the road and where we were, it was interesting to see where each of us had our strong suits. And I think the TLIS is really going to help really prove that you don't just have the theoretical, you have the practical and I think I'm really excited for it and looking forward to it take

Tye Campbell 18:55
off. Yeah, I can't wait to see the number of people who take that certification exam and pass it and start promoting. I want to see that number grow. I'm so excited to see like next year's conference, what's that number going to look like?

Christina Lewellen 19:08
It will celebrate the heck out of it?

Tye Campbell 19:09
Oh, we should? We absolutely should. I think it's so wonderful. And there's a couple of things that come to my mind around that. So I think about the POCC conference, last time I went was not this past fall, but the fall before. And they were two things that really stood out to me and made me think about ATLIS in this way. One is every year, they have all the heads of school, who are at POCC go up on the stage and they take a picture and it's wonderful to see that group number grow every single year. Right. And I would love to see how that looks like if we do something similar to this poster. I could I think that's going to just help people understand the value and see the value of it. The second thing is actually comes from a session that Hiram and Jason today yes and Darryl loi about the transition from tech leader to modern learning department of modern learning and I remember at POCC, two years ago, when I went there were two really interesting sessions that caught my attention. One was, so you want to be an assistant head of school, and the other one was, so you want to be a head of school. And I wonder what are the opportunities that might come after the TLIS like what's next for these people after they have demonstrated incredible leadership? They've demonstrated that they understand schools, and I will continue to stand and say that tech leaders are some of the best leaders in schools that schools just don't recognize they have, right, what are the things that we can do to support those people who after the TLIS now what's next for them? And I think school leadership is a fantastic opportunity for them, and what are we going to be offering in the years to come to help those folks take the next stage?

Christina Lewellen 20:41
I love that when you guys design the TLIS, you incorporate it and really prioritize the continuing education. Because obviously, if you took your certification, and then 10 years from now, you never had to do anything, again, that certification would be woefully outdated. I think that speaks to also you three in particular, are definitely leaders in the space, you're often teaching sessions. But what I love is that when you're not teaching sessions, you're not hiding in your rooms, you are attending, you all three have demonstrated commitments to continuing education. What are some of the highlights from this conference, in terms of things that you've learned or things that have really made you think, whether it's a session that you taught, and presented, or CO presented, or a session that you attended, I

Tye Campbell 21:27
presented with Ruth now, that was one of the sessions I did, and that was more on kind of school operations stuff. The one that's coming front of mind is certainly the one that Jason and Hiram and Darrell did earlier today, because that got into a lot of the teaching and learning and also helping tech leaders position themselves to be in those conversations that happen across our school. I also think to some of the presentations that have happened around the data stuff right around service and how schools are using data and figuring out the best ways to leverage that data. And to bring others on board in those conversations as well, I think when it comes to data overall, and that's one of the areas I would focus on the most is schools have so much data, and have no idea how to use that data. It's one thing to have personnel, yes, I recognize that we are incredibly blessed to have someone like Rachel on campus, in our building able to do that work. But a lot of schools don't have that luxury. And so thinking about how we can better educate those in our school to one recognize the value of the data and the information that is sitting there at our disposal, we just need to get into it and figure it out, and to maybe raising up some folks who might be interested in that work and might pursue a path that is along the lines of Rachel's position.

Hiram Cuevas 22:37
So Ty, we're rolling off the board, which is tragic. In a lot of wisdom there a tremendous amount of wisdom. We've been talking about leadership opportunities, but the board has recommended a new process now. For board membership, potentially. Yeah. And how excited are you about that potential?

Tye Campbell 22:57
I'm very excited because I think the timing is ripe. I think we have a lot of folks here within our community who are like, what's another way that I can give back to ATLIS? What can I do beyond attending the conference? What can I do to help others similar to how I was helped as we came along in this work, right? And so I think it's going to allow a lot of those folks an opportunity to raise their hand and say, hey, I want in how can I help. And we've talked a lot about it over the years about the board position not being a super volunteer, right? It is more than that. And I think it's going to give those folks an opportunity to really strike leadership opportunities within the organization to see ATLIS from a slightly different perspective than the way they've seen it before, understand how it works, understand the vision that we're working towards, and contribute in really exciting ways. And so I'm excited about seeing that I'm excited to see, although I won't be able to see it, you will, you'll be able to see those people who put their hands up and who fill out that form. And that's in and of itself is a huge step because those folks actually going to be raising their hand and taking a step forward. I remember when I was thinking about joining the board. And you know, the email would go out every year, say you know, who's interested. And I would sit on it and say, I don't know if I want to do it, maybe I'll do and then I got a phone call and said hey, you should really consider that. And I hope we continue to do that and continue to encourage the people and identify the folks who we think will be good. But it's really great to allow people to take that chance to raise their hand and say they want it. So

Christina Lewellen 24:25
we've been here in Reno, and this was an experimental conference location. Have you been getting into any trouble? Are you a gambler?

Tye Campbell 24:33
I am not a gambler. But I watched a lot of gambling happen which

Christina Lewellen 24:39
top notch around here folks?

Tye Campbell 24:41
That has been very very interesting. I'm to the point now and I can thank Jason for this that I now have a blackjack app on my phone

Christina Lewellen 24:50
currently referring to by the way, his

Bill Stites 24:53
way are

Tye Campbell 24:57
but you know it's been fun and I mean that is Something different, you know, I am a person who, when I do all my lovely assessments, I'm very much on the introverted side. And I have my time where I can go out there and push myself and be around people and then have a good time. But I'm restored when I'm by myself and can be alone. But there's something about ATLIS that always just draws the other side. Do

Christina Lewellen 25:20
we see your inner extrovert come out? Is that what we get, extroverted Ty? Yes, that's pretty cool. I could see that Bill and Hiram, are you introverted or extroverted?

Bill Stites 25:29
Oh, I'm an introvert,

Christina Lewellen 25:30
you are not?

Bill Stites 25:34
I would definitely not say I'm an introvert. I'm somebody who Hiram will constantly remind me, I love to talk. But, you know, it's a surprise to everyone. I know. Of course. Well, I

Christina Lewellen 25:44
mean, it serves us well, in the podcast. I'm

Bill Stites 25:48
the one thing I love about coming here. I mean, first off, in terms of the venue, I was, I actually have to say, I'm shocked at how disconnected we are from the actual like Casino. You know what I mean? Like, I walked in the front door, and I looked, and I'm like, Oh, my God, like, how are we going to get anything done, you know, like, with all the thing, dignity, you know, all the noises and everything, but you turn the corner and you come down the hallway. And it's like, okay, this is a conference. And this is where you know, we're gonna be with our people being here to take full advantage of ATLIS, your inner extrovert has to come out. Because this is where you can be the real you in terms of you know, you're with people that understand your problems, you're with people that are going through similar things, these are people that you can turn to, it's the community that you need to support you. As Hamish said, you know, you come out of this, and you're completely reinvigorated, really to go into the summer. And for most people, you might be like, going into the summer is like, oh, it's your downtime. For us. It's like one of our busiest lunch. Absolutely. So to come out of this conference, and to get that shot of energy going into it, I think the more you can come out of your shell, and have those conversations, to be willing to sit down and engage with people and have fun and to ask the serious questions, or to joke, which is another thing that they tend to do in excess. But it's one of those things where you can soak it all in, gather it all come together and have the random conversations, I love walking down these aisles between the vendors, between the tables between sessions, and having those conversations in the hole equally as everything that you get out of the sessions that you sit in on. And you would ask the question earlier about like, what did you really get? I mean, for me, one of the best things that have come out of this was the keynote yesterday, the whole idea of like, how does tech align with the business office? How do we get onto a common language? How do we understand things? Everything that Jeff said yesterday, I think, really resonated with me, because it's what I've been thinking about a lot for the past year and a half, two years. And then to follow that up with a session immediately after that keynote, I think was great, because, you know, Jeff and his team were there. He wasn't presenting, but he was in NBOA. And we were able to really dig in on a lot of things. They were allowed to present information, but there was a real opportunity for an immediate reaction to what he had to say at the keynote and a real give and take with those people that we can partner with to advance and move a lot of these things forward. And I wouldn't have gotten that if I weren't here. And if I weren't extroverted enough to really get out there and ask those questions and go through that. So it's great. Yeah. How

Christina Lewellen 28:40
about you, Hiram?

Hiram Cuevas 28:41
I'm the introvert extrovert.

Christina Lewellen 28:43
Yeah. I'm the Vert.

Hiram Cuevas 28:44
I'm the I'm the route, much like Ty. I mean, the other day, we were together watching the blackjack table, and then we looked at our watches, like, it's time. We're done.

Christina Lewellen 28:53
Were you done peopling?

Hiram Cuevas 28:55
What was done, people in the social experiment was complete. Okay. And you know, last night Bill was watching me at dinner and he was like, you're out of gas aren't yet I was like, Yeah, I'm pretty much done. And it's because I exert so much energy, building relationships, connecting people who need to be connected. I'll hear people say, I've got this particular issue. And I'm like, I know who you need to talk to. And I'll find them and I'll bring them together. And really this group right here, we all do the same thing. It really is a family. I do say this often about this conference, I leave this conference, rejuvenated. It's cathartic for me, because end of school, that part of the calendar is brutal. Yeah, for it, people. And on top of that, I've got a daughter who's getting ready to graduate. So that's going to be equally emotionally brutal. Yeah. So I know I have shoulders to lean on. That's right when necessary. Yeah.

Christina Lewellen 29:48
So I always have one question for all three of you. My question this time, is since we're toward the end of this live event, our brains are starting to get full if not overloaded. With all this incredible networking and education, my question, since we're in this reflective space, is what advice do you have for Tye 20 years ago, and Hiram and Bill 20 years ago. So here we sit today, and we're talking about the TLIS. And we're surrounded by our family here at ATLIS. What advice would you give yourself Tye 20 years ago, when you were just putting your tippy toes on to this path? Boy,

Tye Campbell 30:26
I would probably say, do your best to just find community, find those who are interested in what you're interested in doing and just learn from those folks. I didn't know that community existed. And I was still super young in that stage of my life as well. And so perhaps didn't even know where to look for that. But just recognizing and accepting that community is somewhere. And maybe it isn't formalized in a way ATLIS is formalized today. But people know people and then being able to connect just like you said, right, you might just ask the questions, and you might know somebody who can connect you to somebody else, and then move forward. I spent a lot of time 20 years ago, just trying to find answers myself, because I didn't know very many people who could answer those questions for me. And so it's being able to just open my mouth, get out of that introverted side of me and ask questions of people without being afraid of looking foolish or knowledgeable. For me,

Hiram Cuevas 31:20
it would probably be to have a little bit more patience with myself. I started as a teacher was a middle school science teacher, and then moved into it. But there's this expectation that you are supposed to be the expert and know everything. And it doesn't matter what it is that's going on in the school, from a technical perspective, they think you're supposed to be able to solve that problem. And I think it's fair to say, each of us are probably generalists. But we do a lot of triage along the way. But I felt at times, in the early part of my career with tech, that I needed to know absolutely everything, I felt like I needed to read everything in the knowledge base and try and have everything at my fingertips. That's not always the case, it's really important to use the phone a friend.

Bill Stites 32:11
Absolutely right. I would tell myself to give myself more of the gift of time, so that I could dig in on those things that I'm passionate about more. And to some degree, it makes us who we are, and to some degree as good as we are now, because we are these generalists. And I think you can say that and frame it in a very positive light. Because again, I think one of the things with what we do, you have to know a good amount about a lot of different things. And you can't really dig deep as you might like to on some of the things that you're really passionate about. But I think if I was to go back, I might want to give myself that time. So I could go deeper on some of those things. Because I think about the things that I was interested in, early on. And I got myself in the school, to the point where what we were trying to achieve, we were able to do, but I didn't go that extra step not because I didn't like what it was that we were doing, or I wasn't passionate about it. But there was always that other thing that came up. So figuring out how to manage your time in a way where you can still deal with all those day to day operational things. But also really explore those passion projects that you've got earlier, when you've got the time and not for nothing, you know, I've crested over that 58 mark where you've got the time and really the energy and the wherewithal to really invest in doing those things. So that you can just draw more meaning out of them. I wouldn't necessarily change too much about my career path because I look at where I am and have there been some missteps of course there have, but I like where I am, yeah, but there's certain things that I just wish I knew a little bit more like a little bit more programming knowledge. You know, it's funny, the one thing CIRIS has kind of taught me is maybe I need to do a little bit more math or you know, like some of these other little things that you know Christina knows this about me as this Hiram, you know, I thought I was going to be a fine arts major when I started so when I went to college, there was no math there was no computer science like taking time like when those things picked up and they were entered into my career Early on, again to invest that time to learn a little bit more. That may have been what I would tell myself, Tye

Christina Lewellen 34:31
before we wrap this up, you can answer this however you want. My question is what's next for Tye Campbell, who?

Tye Campbell 34:36
Professionally My goal is, this is my last tech job and to be an assistant head of school, that is my cue

Christina Lewellen 34:44
with all your bravery just throwing that out there. Well hold on a minute, sir. I think you need to slow down and say that one more time. This your last what?

Tye Campbell 34:52
Yes, this is my last tech job. And to be very clear about it right. It is not an abandonment of technology at all. It was about trying to fit Got how to take all the skills that I've learned so far, both the hard tech skills and the soft people skills, and put that all together to help move the school forward, I think we can probably all agree that we scratch our heads, sometimes wondering why our schools navigate the way they do in terms of their decision making. And in terms of how they progress things forward, and we're like, if we were in that seat, or how to maybe a little bit higher up on the food chain, we might operate and track things a little bit differently. And I think that comes from the experience and the knowledge that we've gained in the roles that we've had. And you know, the traditional path is a little bit different doesn't have those exposures to things that we have, you know, a division head, for example, might oversee, say, a renovation or a new school building for their particular division. That's different from us who have to look at it from an all school perspective. Right. And so how can we take that all school experience and put that in a leadership position in a school that is something that excites me tremendously. And so I want to see how we can do that. And I want to blaze a trail for those who might be coming on the back end. And we there's a few evidently, we have Jim Foley, we have others like Marquis Scott, we have a bunch of folks who have kind of set that path forward. And I just want a big trail of fire behind me just going through and blazing a path for others who want to do the same thing because I think we can and I ultimately believe we will. I

Christina Lewellen 36:22
am so happy to hear you say that it's been so incredible to work so closely with you these last few years on the board, I have no doubt that you will accomplish whatever you set your mind to. So thank you for taking a few minutes to share your journey with us to share your perspective with us. And I have a feeling this will not be the last time we are having a conversation with Tye Campbell. So thank you, Tye, for joining us at the end of this conference. We really appreciate you

Bill Stites 36:45
for the opportunity. Thanks, Tye. Thank you, Tye. Always appreciate it.

Narrator 36:50
This has been Talking Technology with ATLIS produced by the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools. For more information about ATLIS and ATLIS membership, please visit the atlis.org If you enjoyed this discussion, please subscribe, leave a review and share this podcast with your colleagues in the independent school community. Thank you for listening.