Jeff Wyant ran at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte on scholarship. Then, he ran professionally for Nike and ASICS.

After graduation, Wyant coached, first college, then at Park City High School, where the Miners won 16 championships in cross country and track under his direction.

Now, he’s coaching again—teachers, that is. As the new Summit Academy principal in Draper, Wyant is ensuring students are being offered the best possible education.

“My philosophy with being an administrator is to have good teachers and support them,” he said. “That’s the key. The teachers are the ones who are working directly with the kids. My role is to facilitate, support and guide them. I’m the coach of the teachers.”

Wyant takes the helm after Lindy Hatch stepped down to take a gap year as an educator. She plans to travel with her husband before returning to the education field.

Most recently, Wyant has been an assistant principal in Bountiful and in Layton with Davis School District. He taught and also served as an assistant principal in North Carolina, where he grew up.

Wyant moved to Utah in the late 1990s, after retiring from competitive running, to take up recreational downhill skiing. He applied to schools within 30 minutes of major ski resorts.

“When I switched to skiing, I hit the weight room because I needed to be a little stronger for skiing. I’m not a competitive runner anymore. Cross country kids can beat me now,” he said.

Wyant, who earned a triple major in history, psychology and criminal justice as an undergraduate, completed two master’s degrees—history at Arizona State and administration at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro and his doctorate in educational leadership at the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky.

He left Utah for a bit to care for his dad in North Carolina and said teaching at a charter school there was “amazing.” Then, he moved onto another charter school which was “incredible. It was the best experience I’ve had. I always said, if I were there, then I’d want my 9-year-old daughter to attend there.”

So when Wyant returned to Utah, he searched for a similar school.

“I believe that it’s Summit. It’s got a great program and the concept they’re following is the right one. The people who work there want their kids to attend there and that’s one of the best measures of any school,” he said. “Their charter model appeals to me where their philosophy is creating basically a private school environment in a publicly funded and accessible school for all kids. They have some flexibility with their school dress code and the no cell phone policy and they’re able to create a better educational environment because of that. Summit has smaller class sizes, which means more individual attention for the kids. There’s a lot of things that benefit the students to be more successful.”

This fall, Summit will add Spanish dual immersion and already has 50 students signed up, filling two classes.

“Summit wants to elevate what they’re already doing. I’ve seen a great model where I worked back in North Carolina. They were ranked by Newsweek as one of the top 100 schools in America, for all public and private and charter schools. I want to help achieve the same thing here. I think Summit is on the right track so I want to add in where I can to the direction they’re already going,” he said.

While he jumped on board during the summer, he took a pause in late July to attend the Paris Olympics.

“I helped some of the professional runners who trained in Park City for a few years so I actually worked with some of the Olympians,” he said.

Traveling is a highlight for him every summer.

“I’ve been to about 113 countries. It started out when I was a runner and I had the privilege to compete at some international races. But I never got to really see those places. So, once I became a teacher, I wanted to go and see places that I had been teaching. As a history teacher that brought in a lot of firsthand knowledge and as an administrator, it brings in more cultural knowledge and awareness,” he said.

Wyant studied ancient sites in Greece and Rome and has climbed the pyramids before they were closed off in Egypt. He’s traveled from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa. He’s traveled in almost every country in Europe as well as in China and Japan. He climbed to Mt. Everest base camp while visiting Nepal and nearby India. He’s been Down Under in Australia and New Zealand to South America’s Colombia, Peru and Brazil.

“I’ve got one big last bucket item for myself and that’s Antarctica. That’s the only continent I haven’t been on. I’m going to ski it. When I get there, I’m going to lay some tracks on a mountain—but that may be a while,” he said, noting being Summit’s principal is his priority now.

He hopes to continue many of the traditions that have been set before him.

Hatch, who worked at Summit Academy for 14 years as a teacher, teaching assistant, instructional coach, literacy director and as principal, always greeted students—first in her classroom, then to all elementary students—by telling them that “You’re amazing.” They’d respond, “touching their heart and saying, ‘I’m amazing.’” 

“Hearing it down the halls was my favorite part of the morning,” she said. “With my junior high kids, I would always say, ‘Remember we love you. We care for you. We like you just the way you are.’ I think students’ confidence in themselves isn’t as they should. So just letting them know that no matter what they do, if they fail, they succeed, we’re going to love them and care for them and they’re amazing. It’s important; it’s a reassurance to keep trying when they do hard things and to continue on their own growth path.”

Student growth also was her focus, with teachers nominating students who grew in academic or personal areas.

“We focused on that growth, not if you’re at the top of the class. It gave a chance for a lot of those students who never got the spotlight to be highlighted and to feel good about their accomplishments,” she said. “I’m going to miss getting the whole school together for different assemblies and hearing kids respond with ‘Go Falcons’ after saying, ‘Together, We Soar.’ I love seeing the light bulb moment when kids learn to read, and it just clicks. I’ll miss the relationships I’ve made with students, staff and parents. There are a lot of families who I will treasure forever.”

Wyant is looking forward to building relationships not just with teachers and staff, but also with the students. He is looking forward to reading a book to students or playing Four Square.

“I’m not any good at Four Square,” said the former athlete turned administrator. “The kids will probably beat me at all the games they play. They’ll have a field day with me.” λ