Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) recently recognized outstanding alumni who have represented excellence and distinction throughout their professional careers, loyal support of their alma mater, and service to the broader community. This year’s recipient for Achievement in Education Award was Rutherford County Principal Judy Goodwin.
Goodwin was born in Williamson County and grew up on a farm outside Thompson’s Station. She was raised by parents who only had an eighth-grade education, but they had the wisdom to nurture and support Goodwin, even when she chose to leave farm life and charted her own course.
While MTSU had no dual enrollment when Goodwin was in high school, they did offer her an honors class after her junior year. Those selected to be in the honors program lived on the MTSU campus, just like a freshman in college, and earned college credits. Through participation in that program, she earned 12 hours of college credit and then had to go back to her tiny country school in Thompson’s Station and completed her senior year. She started college as a sophomore.
“That was a wonderful opportunity,” noted Goodwin, “and I was on the education path then.”
She began student teaching at Bellwood Elementary in Murfreesboro, Tennessee under the guidance of Myrtle Knight as her co-op teacher, and Dr. Bob Bullen as her professor at MTSU. After graduating from college with honors, she returned to the country school she attended, Bethesda Elementary, for her first few years of teaching. It was meant to be, as it was her first-grade teacher at that school who inspired her to become an elementary school teacher.
“I think I chose elementary school because I was short,” she explained. “I was always the smallest kid in my class…and I recognized that being little had its disadvantages, but I had a little, 4’11” first grade teacher named Miss Francis Hatcher at Bethesda Elementary who inspired me to teach. She taught the kids a little song called ‘Ducky Diddle’ that changed my view of being little…Little Ducky Diddle,” she sang, “went wading in a puddle, went wading in a puddle quite small. Said, see it doesn’t matter, I only splash and splatter, I’m only a ducky after all.”
Something about that song said to her that you can be a little duck, but you can make big splashes. It wasn’t until she was older that she came to fully understand the meaning of the song, but it stuck with her as a six-year-old and inspired her to follow her dreams of teaching.
She remained there until she adopted her son, Drew. The first two years of Drew’s life with her, she spent running a store called “Yours Truly” with a friend. It gave her an opportunity to be a mother and help her son adjust by keeping him with her at the store. The store also allowed her to express her artistic side, as she created many items to sell.
Lucky for all of her future students and teachers, she moved back into education as a kindergarten teacher at Smyrna Primary, and then Don Odom brought her to David Youree Elementary in 1982, and that is when Hulon Watson asked her to assist in coaching at Riverdale High School.
In 1987, Goodwin moved to John Coleman as a kindergarten teacher and Programs Coordinator. She used the experience as a leadership training opportunity. There, her adventures taught her “that when you bring people in, when they are part of the decision making, they will build a very strong building.”
She has followed that dictum ever since. A 53-year career educator, she spent more than 25 years as a teacher in Williamson and Rutherford counties, and more than 28 years as an administrator. Currently, she is the principal of Barfield Elementary School, a position she has held for 24 years.
Just before Watson retired from his position as Superintendent of Rutherford County Schools, he said to Goodwin, “When I handed you the keys to this building it was not a control school, it was the biggest appointment that I made and you really turned it around.” It was his belief in her that affirmed her career.
She has mentored countless aspiring teachers and administrators, just as Watson mentored her. Development of potential and coping skills are guiding principles that she puts into everything she does, uplifting everyone around her. Under the authentic warmth, have no doubt, there is a steel magnolia who employs her grit to make sure that students, teachers and even parents “under her care” are provided with everything they need to excel.
“I don’t want to put them into a situation where they will fail,” said Goodwin. “That would be like putting your second-string girls’ basketball players against Rick Insell’s first string, and they are going to beat your brains out.”
The metaphor comes from the days when Goodwin was one of the first girls’ high school basketball coaches in Rutherford County. She learned her chops from some of the best in education, and she passes on what she has learned. Development of potential and coping skills are guiding principles that she puts into everything she does, uplifting everyone around her. But, under the authentic warmth, there is no doubt, there is a steel magnolia who employs her grit to make sure that students, teachers and even parents “under her care” are provided with everything they need to excel.
“I am a little different when interviewing potential new teachers,” explained Goodwin. “I can see into a person’s soul. Once I have hired someone here, they do not have to prove anything to me. I knew what they were when I hired them. I knew what they were going to do. I have faith. And having that makes people work even harder. I want to put people into a situation where they can be their very best and develop to their fullest potential.”
She is equally dedicated to MTSU. She is the benefactor of the MTSU College of Education Judy Turner Goodwin Scholarship in honor of her late son, Drew Pate, former co-owner, designer and artist of Yours Truly in Murfreesboro.
Please Join Our FREE Newsletter!
