For Karrie Scheller, leadership isn’t about titles or corner offices. It’s about showing up—fully, fiercely, and without apology—for the students and staff of Mount Olive Schools. And she’s been doing that for 26 years.

Now in her eighth year as principal of the Pre-K through 8th grade building, Karrie still speaks like a teacher first. She spent years in the classroom, guiding both first and fifth graders, and she credits that experience as essential to how she leads today.

“If you really want to lead a school the right way, you’ve got to have classroom experience,” she said. “You can’t support a third grade teacher—or a first grade teacher, or a special ed teacher—if you don’t understand what it feels like to be in their shoes.”

Her colleagues and community clearly agree. This year, Karrie was named an ISBE “Those Who Excel” award winner—an honor she never saw coming.

“I had no idea I’d even been nominated,” she said. “Suddenly I was getting messages from friends, even people who don’t live here anymore, saying, ‘You deserve this so much.’ It was overwhelming.”

The nomination came from Mount Olive’s former superintendent, recognizing her for exemplary leadership, student-centered values, and the quiet excellence with which she carries the school forward. But Karrie doesn’t keep the spotlight for herself.

“I accepted that award on behalf of every educator in this building, and every mentor I’ve ever had,” she said. “I’m here because of the people who believed in me.”

Many of those people were her own teachers—right here in Mount Olive. Karrie is a proud alum, and she still remembers her fourth grade teacher letting students “play teacher” for a week. That experience lit a spark in her that never went out.

But her road wasn’t easy. She grew up in a single-parent household, raised alongside her twin sister by a hardworking mother and supportive grandparents. She became a teen mom while still in high school. The obstacles were real.

“I had every reason to quit,” she said. “But I didn’t. Because I had teachers who pushed me. I had people who saw something in me.”

And now, that’s exactly what she offers her students.

“I’m the kind of principal who tells it straight,” she said. “If I see a student heading down a dangerous path, I say it. I call the parents. I get real. And they thank me for it.”

Her leadership style is direct but deeply compassionate. She’s not afraid to talk about hard things—divorce, hardship, failure—because she knows that students and teachers don’t just need a leader who’s strong. They need one who’s honest.

“People think being a principal is about having all the answers,” she said. “But really, it’s about knowing when to sit down, listen, and love your people through it.”

Whether she’s advocating for a student who needs a second chance or mentoring a colleague walking through a difficult season, Karrie leads from a place of hard-won wisdom and open-hearted tenacity.

She may have won the award, but her daily reward is something much simpler: seeing her students succeed. Seeing them stand tall. Seeing them, years later, walk back through the doors and say, “You helped me.”

Because she did. And she still does.