ROSEBORO — Jim Workman’s journey in education took a brief hiatus in December after he retired from Union Intermediate School as the principal.
He’s now back in an office, ready to lead teachers and help students become successful leaders. Workman became the interim principal of Mintz Christian Academy Jan. 2 and it wasn’t something he was expecting. The original plan was to become the assistant principal, but that changed when Dr. William Warren resigned as principal.
“I want to help produce students that are not only prepared for college or a career, but also keen minded leaders that will lead future generations. That’s my goal.”
In the fall, Workman received a call about becoming the assistant principal to work with Warren. With retirement from Sampson County Schools on the horizon, he entertained the thought. After the offer, he prayed and talked to his wife about it.
“We decided to take that step,” Workman said about staying in the education field. “I’m a creature of habit, so I don’t like to change things once I’m doing something.”
Workman’s interest in education began by wanting a key to a gym. Growing up, Workman was involved with athletics with his brothers. In high school, he thought about teaching, but he didn’t pursue the idea. After earning his diploma, he worked at Lundy Packing Company for a couple of years.
“That was the best two years of my educational career,” he said. “I learned at that point that I needed to go back to school and get my teaching degree and I did.”
After earning a bachelor’s in physical education and a master’s in school administration, Workman became an in-school suspension facilitator at Midway High School for one year before going to Lakewood High School for the same role. Later, he became a dropout prevention coordinator for the Lakewood District, before returning to Midway to teach health and physical education. During his years with Sampson County Schools, he served as an assistant coach and head coach for several sports. Some of them included football, softball and track.
He continued teaching physical education at Union Elementary for a year before becoming the assistant principal at the school and Union Middle School. After Union’s former high school building was used to teach middle school, Workman stayed and started Union Intermediate.
“I loved Union Intermediate School,” he said. “We were like a family.”
Most of the staff Workman knew where there since the school started about 10 years ago. He was the first principal of the school in Clinton, before the duties were passed on to O.C. Holland, former principal of the Charles E. Perry Learning Center.
“I always told people when I was there that I had the second best job in the county,” Workman said looking back on his days with Sampson County Schools.
During that time, Workman remembered Tommy Sloan, who he said had the best job in the county, serving as a coach at Midway High School. At Union Intermediate, he enjoyed providing leadership to teachers who taught fourth and fifth graders.
“It’s a good time to build character,” Workman said. “Fourth and fifth grade is the most important formative years as far as building character, lifelong skills and habits. At Union Intermediate, we worked diligently to build good citizens as well as good students.
“You may not know the Pythagorean theorem, but you can treat people kind, be courteous and be respectful to people,” he said.
Workman was born in Massachusetts and when his father, Howard “Bill” Workman passed away, his mother Lottie Horn came to Sampson County, where she was raised. Workman spent the early years of his life in Autryville in the Yellow Skin Road area.
“We’re a very close family and we fought like cats and dogs growing up,” Workman said about growing up with his siblings. “Now, it’s all love. We just love spending time together.”
Workman is married to Jennifer and they have been together for 27 years. Together, they have a daughter, Megan.
“They are the apples of my eye,” Workman said.
When Workman is not with his family, he’s going to be spending a lot of time at Mintz. To many, the small school feels like a family and he feels blessed to be a part of it.
“God opened that door and I took that leap of faith,” he said.
