KALAMAZOO, MI — From 7:30 a.m. to 2:20 p.m., Aaron Sauter, new principal of Milwood Middle School, is often in the hallways.
If a student steps out of class, they might find Sauter next to lockers at his “mobile workstation.”
Sauter’s mobile office is a simple push cart that he can place his laptop on. While students are in the building, he moves through the building’s hallways, sometimes tracking up to 20,000 steps a day.
If a student needs some quiet time away from their classroom, he also lets them work alongside him.
“It’s just more visibility for students,” Sauter said. “At the same time, if you’re a teacher and you’re having an issue in a classroom, there’s someone that’s right there to come in and help.”
This is Sauter’s first year as principal at Milwood. At first, students were confused about his presence in the halls, Sauter said. But now they expect it.
“It’s been a cool trickle-down effect, because now a lot of teachers and support staff are working out in the halls,” Sauter said.
Sauter said he’s cultivating a “Milwood vs. everybody” mentality at the school. That can mean being the best performance wise, but also encouraging students to be their best selves.
“I try to talk to my students about all the time, ‘I don’t care if your score is higher than hers, if that’s the highest you can get,’” Sauter said. “Are you being your best?”
For Sauter, working in education has always been a balance of teaching students and preparing them for life.
His mother, a teacher and Kalamazoo Central High School graduate, “preached education wasn’t just about math, reading, writing, arithmetic, but it was about developing the whole child.”
After graduating from Western Michigan University, Sauter went on to teach in Virginia and Kentucky. Then Kalamazoo called him back.
“We were deciding where we wanted to live and we really liked the diversity and the culture of Kalamazoo and what KPS had to offer,” Sauter said.
His family also has roots here. In addition to his mother, Sauter’s grandmother was a secretary at Loy Norrix High School. Now his wife is a teacher at King-Westwood Elementary School and his daughter a student at Milwood Middle School — where her dad’s the principal.
Through his career, Sauter has seen first hand how education can transform a student’s life.
On the wall of his non-mobile office, Sauter has framed jerseys of former students he coached in Kentucky who went on to play professional sports.
“A lot of them are first-generation graduates, so that mentorship is huge,” Sauter said. “I get choked up talking about it because I’m just super proud of them.”
One aspect of that mentorship is tough love, he said.
“Like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna hold you to this expectation because I know what you’re capable of doing,’” Sauter said.
You also have to explain to students why it’s important to follow rules, not just doing something because the rule is there.
“We do this because it’s what’s best for us and those around us,” Sauter said.
Sauter said his patience, discipline and structure help make him well suited for the principal role. But any growth or milestones that Milwood makes should also be attributed to the strong teachers and support staff in the building.
“That’s why Milwood is special,” Sauter said.
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