Q: What’s your name and what do you teach?
A: My name is Mr. [Micheal] Schuster and I teach special education and I teach History. I [also] coach cross country.
Q: You coach cross country, I’m curious what made you want to start teaching?
A: I enjoy working with young people and seeing them prosper and grow from the time of freshman [year] up till senior year. I enjoy having summers off, but I really enjoy coaching and I’ve always been running since probably as long as I can remember; about 12 or 13 years old. My sister got me into running cross country and I helped out as an assistant coach when I was in college at Blacksburg high school down here at Virginia Tech. So I’ve always loved coaching.
Q: What sets Indy apart from the other schools and why did you decide to come here?
A: There is a very nice community. People have good school spirit. They enjoy one another’s company, practice, and school, so I enjoy that as well. It’s a good group of kids.
Q: You stated that you wanted young student-athletes to learn how to achieve success as a team, why do you think working as a team is important and how does it apply to students and not just athletes?
A: Working as a team shows you that you can’t get things done by yourself in life sometimes, and learn how to collaborate with others. And a lot of times when you work towards a goal with a group of people it feels really good when you accomplish that goal as a unit. It’s something I think that goes a long way for people later in life and college, their job, their relationships, anything. So I think being a part of a team is one of the most important things you’ll do in your life.
Q: What are some of your favorite moments that you’ve had here at Indy?
A: The cross country team in 2021, the spring and winter season had been cut short because of Covid, but we won regionals. So that was really exciting. The boys team won regional champions and our girls team last year was fourth in the region. Just winning states with a really good performance. [Performances are some] good moments.
Q: What are some similarities/differences with coaching and teaching?
A: Similarities are that you have to get people to learn how to work together. You have to have patience. You have to make sure that sometimes you’re gonna have a bad day or something’s not gonna go exactly as planned. You have to figure out how to, you know plan on the fly and make sure things work out. And then differences are the classroom and you’re outside for cross country and track.
