Trio of Hancock County school administrators total nine GCSU degrees

Hancock Central High School Asst. Principal Monica Poole is working on her fourth degree from GCSU. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)

By Ian Wesselhoff

T hough Hancock Central High School in Sparta, Georgia, is home to the Bulldogs, school leadership there boasts a lot of Bobcats. The principal, Dr. Daymond Ray Jr., and assistant principal, Monica Poole, are both Georgia College & State University alumni. Just a short walk over to Hancock Central Middle School, there is a third: Crystal Little, assistant principal.

All three earned graduate degrees from the John H. Lounsbury College of Education. Poole and Little are both currently earning their specialist degree in educational leadership, which will be Poole's fourth degree from GCSU and Little's third.

As they entered college, none of the three thought they would work in schools at all, let alone hold administrative positions. Little was an accounting major, Poole was going into the medical field and Ray started out in physical therapy - but all three wound up on the same path, from Georgia College to Hancock County, discovering their love of education along the way.

For Ray, that discovery began as a volunteer assistant coach for a middle school basketball team. Ray realized that he was interested in teaching, changed his major and eventually landed a job as a health and P.E. teacher in Johnson County.

Ray's principal and mentor, Curtis Dixon, urged Ray to get a degree in leadership, which he would complete at GCSU.

"[Dixon] said … 'You have that "it" factor where people willingly follow you,'" Ray said. "Once I got [my educational leadership certification], I was like, 'It's time. I'm ready.' I applied for an assistant principal position and am still in leadership 16 years later."

In 2023, Ray became one of the first people to earn a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Georgia College when it was introduced by the Department of Professional Learning & Innovation, and he is set to teach a curriculum development class at GCSU in the spring.

"It's sentimental and rewarding at the same time, because not only was I one of the first - I was the only male that was in the program, and then I was one of two African Americans that were in the program," Ray said.

Today, Ray acts as mentor for both Little and Poole in their pursuit of specialist degrees in educational leadership, which he earned in 2011.

All three have also completed an educational leadership Tier I certification at Georgia College, which is a non-degree program that fulfills a prerequisite for the specialist degree, known as Tier II.

In 2023, Daymond Ray Jr. was one of the first two people to earn a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from GCSU. (Photo: Anna Gay Leavitt)

"One of the things I love about the Tier I and Tier II program is it's on-the-job training," Little said. "Even in the undergrad program, you student-teach. You're in the position while you're learning how to do the position effectively."

Over Ray's seven years as a principal in Baldwin County schools, he had numerous student teachers from GCSU's College of Education under his supervision.

"I know that I could put those students that came through that education program up against any education program," Ray said. "I know the College of Education at Georgia College is going to produce a quality teacher who can teach anywhere. That's what they've always done."

Unlike Ray and Little, Poole's undergraduate biology degree had little to do with teaching or education. She started as a substitute teacher while finishing up her master's degree, and once she fell in love with education, her next steps were an easy choice.

"The education department is phenomenal," Poole said. "When I decided to go back to pursue degrees in education, nothing else crossed my mind. It was only ever Georgia College."

To Little, a former Georgia College Early College teacher, the three of them all finding success in leadership positions illustrates the effect of GCSU's education program.

"We are living proof of what they say they can produce," Little said.

Header Images: Hancock Central High School Principal Dr. Daymond Ray Jr. and Assistant Principal Monica Poole both hold multiple education degrees from Georgia College & State University. Photos by Anna Gay Leavitt.