When James Walton walks down the hallway at Meridian, he looks like he belongs there—because he does. He graduated from Meridian High School in 2001, and now, more than twenty years later, he’s back, not as a student but as the district’s Behavior Interventionist. And though the role is new to him, the work feels like the end of a long path that somehow led him right back to where he started.

James grew up in Mounds and attended Meridian alongside his younger brother and sister. He describes himself as the kind of student who knew how to keep up an image—respectful at school, talkative at home, “opinionated since birth,” as he puts it. He laughs when he says it, but the truth is that speaking up has always been part of who he is. “My mouth used to get me in trouble,” he said, “because I always had something to say.” Now, that voice is one of his greatest strengths.

After graduation, he went to SIU Carbondale and majored in Information Systems Technology. By his junior year, he knew it wasn’t the life he wanted, but he finished the degree out of determination. Around the same time, he worked with Upward Bound, a TRIO program that serves first-generation and underserved students. A math teacher there pulled him aside one day and said, “I think you’re supposed to be in education.” It was the first nudge toward a future he hadn’t considered.

He shifted course and returned to SIU for a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Teacher Leadership. He worked through college and graduate school, serving as a head counselor for Upward Bound’s Saturday programs and summer academies. “Anytime I ever did something, I always ended up in the leadership role,” he said. People naturally came to him for solutions, advice, and direction—traits that follow him to this day.

Life took him many places before coming back home. After graduation, he worked at Good Samaritan House in Carbondale, a homeless shelter where he was mentored closely by the social worker there. When his grandmother became ill, he moved back to Mounds to care for her until she passed. During that season, he substitute-taught at area schools and eventually landed at Shawnee Community College as an Academic Specialist for Educational Talent Search, another TRIO program. For ten years, he followed students from sixth grade through high school graduation, helping them plan their futures. He became assistant director, then director—roles he earned through hard work and natural leadership.

But then the political climate shifted, and federal TRIO funding became uncertain. The program that had shaped so much of his life suddenly felt unstable. That’s when several leaders—people he respected—called him with the same message: “You need to apply for the Behavior Interventionist position at Meridian.” At first, he doubted it. “I didn’t think I had the right certifications,” he said. But the more people encouraged him, the more he felt something pulling him home.

He interviewed, “knocked it out of the park,” and received the offer. The decision wasn’t simple—leaving Shawnee meant leaving a decade of relationships and hundreds of students whose lives he had followed closely. “It wasn’t cut and dry like I thought,” he said. “I built bonds with them.” But deep down, he knew: “It was my time. I was supposed to be here.”

Now, as Meridian’s Behavior Interventionist, James serves students from Pre-K through 12th grade across both buildings. No two days look the same. He fields behavior referrals, responds to urgent situations, supports teachers who need help with escalated students, and constantly moves between classrooms, hallways, and offices. And through it all, he focuses on one thing: respect.

“I approach every student with respect first,” he said. “They need to feel safe, they need to feel valued, and they need to enjoy being here.” Whether it’s an elementary student melting down or a high school student testing boundaries, he works hard to connect before correcting. It’s the same approach he appreciated as a student—and the one he believes makes the biggest difference now.

Because he’s from the community, students and parents know him. Their parents grew up with him. They trust him. And for behaviors that require follow-up at home, he isn’t afraid to call. “The parents have been great partners,” he said. “They know me, and they know I’m here to help.”

He keeps both his work phone and personal phone with him at all times because when a teacher needs help, the response has to be immediate. And while he jokes about still trying to understand the “brain of a teenage girl,” he’s learning quickly. His goal for the year is simple but powerful: learn every student’s name and earn their trust.

Long-term, he hopes to see referrals decrease—not because students are afraid of consequences, but because they understand structure, independence, and personal responsibility. “There will always be rules,” he said. “My job is to help them learn how to navigate that.”