Photography by Victoria Gomez
Earlier this year, students walked through Lake Highlands Middle School’s doors for the first time. It marked a departure from more than 60 years of tradition in the old junior high, which had exclusively housed seventh and eighth graders for more than two decades.
Sixth graders — previously giants on elementary campuses — are now low men on the proverbial totem pole as Richardson ISD transitions to the middle school model. Lake Highlands Middle School is one of the first two schools heading into this locally-unknown territory.
So who’s guiding the transition in the new building?
That would be LHMS Principal Nick Rustin. Originally from a small community east of Lake Lavon, he admittedly stumbled into education inadvertently. He started out as an English teacher at Richardson High School before spending time as an assistant principal at Apollo Junior High.
Going into his fifth year as principal at Lake Highlands, Rustin has grown out his hair a little. While he’s laid back and approachable, LHMS’s inaugural principal is unmistakably passionate about what he does.
“You could have the worst school in America,” Rustin says. “But as long as you’ve got the best teacher in the classroom, that’s the great equalizer. So my goal is just to put the best teachers in the right place and make sure they’re supported and they feel good and can do what they can for kids.”
What do you remember about the educators you had growing up?
I still think about my high school basketball coach, who was my science teacher and one of the big mentors in my life. You know, they’re people that can make change without even realizing how much change they make. I was a good kid, good student, but I always tried to build a relationship with the teacher, because it just makes everything that much easier. So I always remember the strong relationships I had with teachers growing up. It was always an important thing for me when I was a kid.
Did you know that you wanted to be a teacher?
Lots of people know right out of the gate, when they’re a little kid, ‘I’m going to be a teacher.’ If I was to talk to my 18-year-old self and say, ‘you’re going to be a principal by the time you’re 40,’ I would have laughed in your face. It wasn’t on my goal sheet. I started my collegiate career, kind of as a community college jumper. And so when I first started, I didn’t drop English 1301, and I ended up taking an F on my transcript. When I went back, and when I was doing the transition, I tried to get into the Cox School of Business at SMU. Well, they wouldn’t accept me because of that F on my transcript, and so I ended up going to UTD. And then I hit this English track, and I became a teacher. So I always told my kids, if I would have passed English 1301, I probably wouldn’t have become a teacher, the irony of that.
What drew you to english?
For me, from an English perspective, there’s not one right answer, and I always preach this to the staff. It’s teaching beyond the curriculum. It’s being able to have those live conversations.
What are your favorite memories from teaching?
It was such a great experience to see kids grow because me being (at Richardson) six years, there was kids that started with me as freshmen, and I got to see them graduate, And for them to still want to come back and and hang out during lunch or say hello and tell me how things are going, that’s what it’s all about, seeing kids grow and then be successful. That was definitely the thing that I’ll cherish about being a teacher.
Do you miss it?
All the time.
What do you enjoy about being an administrator?
It hasn’t changed from being a teacher to being an assistant principal to being a principal: it’s building relationships with staff and kids. That’s what makes the day go man, when you’re happy and you’re feeling good, you’re joking around, things are working. Makes you feel good, because if you’re making kids feel good and you know they’re coming back and they want to come back to school, they’re excited about school, then we’re making change for kids, and that’s what it’s all about.
How is the middle school transition going?
I love sixth graders. I mean, I’m challenging my eighth graders. I’m like, ‘those sixth graders know what they’re doing.’ So the elementaries have done a good job. But that is one of the things that just came up in conversation yesterday with the superintendent is seeing those sixth graders in this environment where they’re a little timid, they’re a little scared, but we’re gonna have them for three years now. Because before in the junior high, when you only have kids for two years, you’re blinking and they’re gone. But now having those sixth graders for that full three years to really train them up as leaders, to really show them and help them. They can help us create what it looks like to be a Lake Highlands Middle School student. I’m really excited about that.
What about the staff?
I think there’s some growing pains, you know, because it’s almost like opening a brand-new school, I mean having 40 new faculty members and, you know, it’s great having a brand new building, but there’s kinks you got to work through. There’s new procedures that we haven’t done before. We have 400 more kids, that includes more cars in the morning, more cars in the afternoon, more walkers in the morning, more walkers in the afternoon. So it’s just making those adjustments.
What’s the goal for your students?
It’s like I mentioned before, I want my kids to want to come to school every day. I want them to feel good in the classroom. I want them to feel challenged. I want them to feel uncomfortable. That helps them grow, because when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, that’s when you grow. I want them to develop grit. I want them to overcome problems. I want them to build relationships, but also understand that not all relationships are going to work out the way that you thought they would. I want them to be leaders. I want them to be self starters. I want them to be a lot of things, but if I was to sum it up, what I want for kids is a good foundation for academic success and success in life.
