Jeriamy Jackson was destined to help others. He grew up in Tobacco City, USA - Edgerton, WI. After high school, he was set to attend UW - Madison. His bags were nearly packed when his roommate decided to change his mind an attend another university. Jeriamy had a chance to step back and rethink his future. Ultimately, he decided to attend UW - LaCrosse and join the UW-LaCrosse wrestling team. Wrestling was a huge part of his life growing up. He learned a lot of great life lessons through wrestling that he still utilizes today.
Jeriamy started his path in education as an Elementary Education major. He knew he ultimately wanted to work with kids, but his music credit drove him away from Elementary Education. Jeriamy shares the story that led him to change his major from Elementary Education to Psychology on episode 10 of Wisco Legacy Psychology was a natural next fit for him. While pursuing Elementary Education, he had to take some classes related to psychology. Those classes were very interesting and led him to pursue that. After college, Jeriamy worked at Mercy Health Systems for about five years as a Mental Health Technician, primarily working with children. This is where he found his passion for both psychology and working with children. He eventually pursued his Master's degree at UW-Whitewater in School Psychology.
After completing his master's program, he found a job for the Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau School District up near LaCrosse. As he was getting ready to launch his career in School Psychology at Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau, he got a call that changed his life. An old buddy from college, Joe Monroe, called him to see if he'd be interested in the School Psychology job in Monroe. He had to weigh his options. School was starting soon and he loved the area he was going to be working in, but something drew him to Monroe. Was it the just closer to his hometown of Edgerton? Was it the people? Was it his buddy from college? Was it the town and school itself? I think it was all of the above. He knew Monroe was special. Monroe is similar to his hometown of Edgerton. He knew he could head back to his hometown when he wanted. Once he moved to Monroe, he started getting involved in the community and came back to the sport he loved: wrestling. For 12 years, he coached the Monroe Cheesemaker Wrestling team.
Coaching wrestling can be challenging. You are working with 14-18 year old kids with varying skillsets, personality, and drive. You have kids who dedicate their lives to the sport and you have kids who just want to have fun and get out of the house. Wrestling is a unique sport. You have both a team component and an individual component to it. You have to build and grow the individuals on your team, so you can have team success. Wrestling is unlike any sport I've competed in. It taught me so many life lesson, and Coach Jackson was a big part of that for me. He instilled a lot of hard work, determination, grit, and perseverance in me while I competed for him in high school. He had a lot of fond memories of coaching, but one of his most memorable moments happened to our episode 9 guest, Scott Timm. Scott was a pretty good high school wrestler, but wasn't ranked in the state. He wasn't expected to go to state or win huge matches. He had great career, but he wrestled out of his mind at the Badger Conference Tournament his senior year. Scott came in as the six seed and won the tournament. Both Scott and Coach Jackson have that moment etched in their memory. That's one of many memories that Coach Jackson has of coaching the Monroe Wrestling team. As he pursued a career in school administration, he had to make the difficult decision to step away from coaching.
While he was coaching, he was working as a School Psychologist. This was a very rewarding job for him. He was working with both elementary education students at Abe Lincoln Elementary School and high school students at Monroe High School. Jeriamy talks about the importance of School Psychology, especially now, in our conversation on Wisco Legacy. He started getting more involved in administrative duties while in the School Psychology role and eventually decided to pursue a career in that. For the last eight years, Jeriamy has been in school administration. He was first the Assistant Principal at Monroe High School and is now the Interim Principal. He really enjoys working with the students, staff, and community to help move the high school forward. Outside of work, Jeriamy is a family man. He and his wife have five children between them. He spends as much time as he can with his family and running to sporting events, plays, etc. You could see how important family is to him throughout this episode.
Coach Jackson had a big influence on my life. He taught me more than double legs and half-nelsons, he taught me about life. He taught me dedication, perseverance, how to work hard, how to treat others, and so much more. He taught me life lessons that I still use to this day. Coach - I thank you for everything you taught me on and off the mat! You've made an impact in my life and I know you've done the same for other wrestlers and students.
Tune in to Episode 10 of Wisco Legacy on Tuesday, November 23rd to hear Jeriamy and I talk about education, school psychology, wrestling, and more. Below are all of the links you need. His episode drops at 5:00 a.m. on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.