Sometimes, you run into that “glue person.” Someone who holds everything together.
Ginnie Maxwell is a “glue person” in Mount Juliet.
She teaches information technology at Mount Juliet High School and that is just the beginning. Maxwell also helps coach a travel baseball team and is the Director of Baseball Operations for the high school baseball team.
“Just being on the field, I feel like it’s a different atmosphere of teaching,” said Maxwell. “I think we’re still teaching them while we’re on the field.
Maxwell and her husband have two boys, ages 10 and 12. She helped coach her sons’ baseball teams for years and estimates they have coached over 250 kids during that time.
“The mental side of the game for this age is tough for them,” said Maxwell. “Just when they get beat, for them to understand that they’re not the best player when they don’t have a good day hitting or fielding or whatever it may be. So, there’s a lot of life lessons and they’re having to learn so much more than just baseball.”
Her efforts don’t stop with baseball. She also developed local races in Mt Juliet for the Healthy Kids Running Series, a nationwide program that promotes running and active lifestyles for kids.
The Mt. Juliet program has five races on Sundays in the fall and spring. When she started the program in Mt. Juliet five years ago, they had 56 runners. The most recent race in October featured around 200 runners.
“We started that because my oldest son has autism,” said Maxwell. “He played baseball, but he struggled with being around a lot of people. We found this (Healthy Kids Running Series) in another area…we went and did it and it was just really good for him because he was able to do something on his own to try to accomplish something that was just for him. Now, I have a lot of special needs children that are in our program and so that’s kind of why I keep doing it because we have a lot of kids that have turned to our program for that same reason.”
Between teaching classes, coaching baseball, developing a running program, and her other responsibilities, she believes her role is more than just teaching skills.
“I have a lot of passion for these kids, and you know just making them good humans,” said Maxwell. We need good humans right now and if I can do that, I feel like I’ve done a good job.”
If you know of someone who is making a positive difference in our community, please let us know