The Change Starts Here podcast and host Dustin Odham went right to the source for this episode, the first to feature a superintendent, inviting Dr. John Jungmann of Springfield Public Schools to the program to share his wealth of insights.

Jungmann has served Missouri school districts for decades, including seven years at SPS, and has dedicated that time to helping engineer what he calls a “student-focused, future-driven” education system.

That illustrious career in administration officially came to an end May 21, when Jungmann gave his final graduation speech as a superintendent of a Missouri school system. For all that time spent molding young minds, Jungmann said his career got its start in a rather simple way.

“I was inspired to be a teacher by teachers,” he said. “I’m the last of six kids in a traditional, small-Southwest-Missouri-town family, the first to go to college, and I went to college purely because teachers told me I could and I should.”

Jungmann shared the stories of three educators in particular – an innovator, an encourager and a truth-teller you’ll meet in the full episode – who helped shape his path to education.

The duo also got into the less-glamourous aspects of leadership aspirations in administration, which often comes alongside family moves and tough decisions, and into Jungmann’s next chapter post-retirement from the SPS superintendent role.