From student to teacher and coach and now assistant principal, Taylor Meredith is leaving his mark on the Southwestern school system.

Meredith was officially named the new assistant principal at Southwestern Junior/Senior High School Wednesday at a special school board meeting. He is currently a math teacher at the high school, an assistant coach with the boys basketball program and the head coach of the soccer program.

Despite being the well-known applicant, Southwestern Consolidated Schools Superintendent Josh Edwards stressed Meredith was the top candidate.

“It definitely wasn’t a gimme,” said Edwards after the meeting. “That young man earned it. I didn’t know him prior (to becoming superintendent); he was in his internship and field experience. He was here all summer. He was doing projects.

“Not knowing him before because I didn’t really cross paths with him as the elementary school principal, I was astounded with his work ethic and his professionalism.”

Meredith rose to the top of an applicant pool full of experienced educators.

“This is something that has been in the works for a couple of years,” said Meredith. “It’s the right opportunity at the right time and I am glad I can stay here in the (administrative) world.”

Once Meredith was approved Wednesday by the school board, Kendall Mangrum, another Southwestern alumnus, was hired to fill the high school math teaching vacancy.

“So I will be on the discipline side of everything at the high school,” said Meredith. “(Southwestern principal) Mr. (John) Tindall and I will be working together doing a lot of data stuff – the SAT, ILearn, PSAT. I am excited for that math side of it and the English side, the SAT, we did training together this summer and started digging into the data all summer long. The nerd part of me loves the data and the spread sheets.”

Meredith and his wife, MaKenzie, a first grade teacher at Loper Elementary School in Shelbyville, have a daughter named Jovie.

“I am very excited to have someone with his (background),” said Edwards. “He is ready to go. Hands down he was the best candidate we had.”

Meredith confirmed he will continue to serve as Southwestern’s soccer coach this season then evaluate in the offseason if the new position will force him to make a change.

“I plan on going on as long as I can,” said Meredith. “I love sports and I love kids and we’ve built something special here with soccer. I don’t want to turn that over before I have to.”