Change in leadership

Travis Grubbs starts first year as Rib Lake school district administrator

News Editor

Travis Grubbs is a long way from where he grew up in coastal Virginia.

Grubbs, who took over the reins as Rib Lake School District administrator with the retirement of Rick Cardey this past summer said that of all the places he has been, Rib Lake has “quite possibly the nicest people.”

Grubbs was born and raised in Virginia in the Newport News area, a section of the state known for its shipyards and close to the Norfolk Naval base. He noted this resulted in a lot of diversity in the area. He said they also have strong football traditions there, with many great athletes coming out of Newport News.

He attended the college of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. where he earned a degree in Chemistry. While he had interest in medicine initially, by the time he graduated he was increasingly drawn to teaching and coaching. He ended up in rural North Carolina giving teaching a try to see if that was what he wanted to do with his life.

“I fell in love with both teaching and coaching and the impact I could have on young peoples’ lives,” Grubbs said.

While teaching in rural North Carolina, Grubbs met a young woman, Jaimie, who was also teaching there. Jaimie happened to be from Stratford. They both taught in North Carolina for a couple years before they made the decision to move out of the rural environment to grow as teachers.

See GRUBBS on page 4 They moved to Chicago, where he taught with the Noble Network of Charter Schools in the city of Chicago. He taught chemistry, AP chemistry, and was the head football coach at UIC College Prep. They spent six years living and working in Chicago. During that time he became drawn to the educational leadership side of things and was taking on additional roles.

It was when they had their daughter that they decided city living was no longer for them. “We wanted to move to a place that felt more like a community,” he said.

This prompted their move from Chicago to Stratford where they were closer to family that was in the area. Grubbs spent a year working at Cadott teaching chemistry, AP chemistry, and AP physics. Following that year, he was able to transition to Stratford combining his passions of educational leadership, youth development, and coaching into the Dean of Student and Activities Director role. Last winter he was hired as the Rib Lake administrator and formally took over the position in July.

Grubbs said he is enthusiastic about the move to Rib Lake and is looking forward to the school year.

Grubbs and his wife have moved to Rib Lake where their daughter started 4-year-old kindergarten this year. “She is super excited,” Grubbs said, of his daughter’s enthusiasm for school. While his wife is also an educator, Grubbs said for now she is staying home with their son who is about a year and a half old.

Outside of adjusting to his new role as district administrator, Grubbs said most of his activities are familyoriented.

“When you have kids who are young, most of your hobbies are doing things with family,” he said.

He said they like to get outdoors as much as possible, visiting area parks and checking out jungle gyms. He said they also like to go on family hikes.

He noted that prior to having children he enjoyed making wine and that he had made all the wine for their wedding. He also enjoys woodworking.

Grubbs said he has been made to feel welcome since his move to Rib Lake.

“Rib Lake has been awesome,” he said. “I can tell people from Rib Lake by how nice they are,” he said.

He noted that even before he made the decision to apply for Rib Lake they had toured the community and played in the park with his family and was hearing great things being said about the school district. He knew he wanted to be part of that community and get to know the teachers and community members.

“Everybody in the community is overwhelming welcoming,” he said, looking forward to that goodwill continuing into the school year.