(This week The Columbian-Progress spotlights Assistant Principal Jay Rayborn of Columbia High School.)
Q: When and where were you born?
A: I was born in Hattiesburg on May 5, 1981.
Q: Where did you attend school?
A: I attended Columbia Academy for 4-year-old kindergarten, then Columbia public schools for K-12. I graduated from Columbia High School in 1999, then attended Pearl River Community College and played baseball there for two years. I went to Southern Miss and graduated in 2003. I got my master’s degree from Mississippi Valley State University in 2006. I coached baseball up there while I was working on my graduate work. Then I got into teaching and went back to Southern Miss and graduated with my PhD in educational leadership in 2015.
Q: Where all have you lived?
A: I’ve lived in Columbia my whole life other than in college. I was in the Mississippi Delta for three years in the Greenwood-Itta Bena area. When I got married, we lived in Brookhaven for two years. Then we had the opportunity to move back to Columbia in 2008 and have been back here ever since.
Q: Where do you work? Tell us about your job/company.
A: I am the assistant principal at Columbia High School and had the opportunity to work with my former assistant principal, Shelia Burbridge, who I respect a tremendous amount. My day consists of handling student issues, managerial duties around campus, teacher observations and whatever Mrs. Burbridge asks me to do throughout the day. I wear a lot of different hats. I had an opportunity to take part in the Principal Academy, and it’s a program that consists of six three-day sessions throughout this school year. They’re really good. There are about 30 principals from around the state that are in this program. It’s a really good opportunity for me to learn, network and share experiences that we encounter in this business every day.
Q: What led you to your profession?
A: My mom was a first-grade teacher for many years, so I was able to see the impact she had on students’ lives growing up. I always thought it was interesting as we got older that we would run into people that were grown, and she taught them in the first grade. As I got older, I had an appreciation and love for baseball, so being able to give back, coach and teach was something I wanted to try.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
A: I enjoy students, student interactions and I have a really good relationship with my students. What’s interesting about my situation now is that I taught just about every single student at this school when they were elementary students at Columbia Elementary School. It’s been cool to see them as high school students and see how they’ve changed after getting to know them as fourth- and fifth-graders. The positive interactions I had with them back then really help out now.
Q: What was your first job?
A: I always cut grass, but my first real job was bussing tables at April’s Catfish in Foxworth for several years. I actually starting working at The Deck in the mid ‘90s and worked there for four or five years.
Q: Who is the person who has been most influential in your life?
A: My parents, Janet and Ken Rayborn. Just having the opportunity to see their example on a daily basis with hard work and no excuses. I have to give them credit for pushing me towards success.
Q: If you had to relive one day from your life over and over again, which would you choose?
A: That is pretty easy. The day my wife and I had our second child in April of 2015, the moment when I carried his older sister upstairs into the hospital room to meet her baby brother for the first time it was a pretty cool moment. I remember that being one of those big life moments that was pretty neat.
Q: What is your spouse’s name? What does she do for a living?
A: Emily Rayborn, she is the media specialist in the library here at the high school. She’s been working here about 10 years, and we’ve been married for 11 years going on 12.
Q: Do you have any children?
A: I have two children. Georgia Kate is 5 and she just started kindergarten at Columbia Primary School. Davis is 2-years-old.
Q: If you could have anything for your last meal on earth, what would it be?
A: I would eat a hamburger cooked by my mother-in-law. She has a 50-year-old cast iron skillet, and it’s just unbelievable. She says there’s nothing to it, but it’s the best hamburger.
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: When my son gets older, I have a desire to visit every Major League Baseball ballpark. I’ve been to several, but I want to do that with him.
Q: What hobbies/activities do you like to do in your spare time?
A: I like to hunt, fish and enjoy exercise.
Q: What do you enjoy most about living and working in Columbia?
A: It’s a small-town atmosphere. I know most everybody everywhere I go. If I need something, I have a relationship with somebody that I can work toward getting that whether it’s the bank or the grocery store. From my church, First Baptist Church, to the small-town community, you feel like people really care about you. I’m a deacon at the church and I teach junior high Sunday School.
Q: If you could have lunch with anyone from your life or history, who would it be?
A: I’d like to have lunch with my grandfather, Hugh Wood, again. He passed away in 1999. I’d like to do that again.
Q: How would you like to be remembered?
A: I’d like to be remembered as somebody who cared about others and put others before himself.
Q: What moment in your life has had the biggest impact on you?
A: Having kids because it’s not about you anymore. When we had our first child and then our second child, even more so, it just puts life into perspective. You put your needs on a backburner when you’re in charge of another life.
Q: Would you rather read a good book or watch a good movie and why?
A: Read a good book no question. I just like to read. I’ve never seen a movie where I read the book and thought that the movie was better.
— Joshua Campbell
Pictured Above: Jay Rayborn, right, assists Christian McCance, Kori Miles, Lanna King and Liza Hathorn on the computer in the CHS library. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
