Profile on Mr. Peden

One of the newer members of the Galloway staff is the Assistant Head of School, Mr. Peden. Mr. Peden began his role with Galloway last year and has been very busy since. Before discussing what he has already done for our school, I asked him about his past. Mr. Peden went to Ole Miss and, while there,  played on the football team with the famous NFL quarterback Eli Manning. Mr. Peden is originally from Nashville, Tennessee, where he worked for Battle Ground Academy, a pre-K through 12th grade independent school. While he was there, he was one of the founding members of an entrepreneurial leadership program. An interesting fact about Battle Ground Academy’s connection to Galloway is that the beloved Mr. Mathis also worked there. After working at Battle Ground, Mr. Peden went to work at Randolph School, a K-12 school with around nine-hundred students in Huntsville, Alabama… Mr. Peden was the head of upper school for five years. 

Now, Mr. Peden finds himself at Galloway. He said a few reasons why he chose Galloway were the position of Assistant Head of School and talking with our Head of School,  Dr. James Calleroz White. In his discussion with Dr. Calleroz White, he mentioned that he especially liked talking about Galloway as a community and our mission: “I really liked the mission statement being figure out who you are and become that person which de-emphasizes the pressure to be ‘perfect’ while still being a good student.” Moving to a new school in a new place comes with some challenges. Luckily Mr. Peden was already somewhat familiar with the Atlanta area so the adjustment with the moving wasn't bad. One big thing he had to adjust to was trying to learn the school’s culture. He said, “For my first year, I just tried to listen to students and staff about what Galloway has been and done in the past.” 

After settling in, Mr. Peden almost immediately got to work for Galloway. He said one of the best parts about working at Galloway is the people and going through challenges as a group. In his first year, he played a big part in finalizing the Northside Youth Organization turf field for our soccer teams. He said that finishing that project was, “very rewarding for everyone involved.” While he has already accomplished that, I asked what else he would want to accomplish in the future, and he shared, “Supporting those with whom I work closest. That includes helping grow the teacher’s center and helping everyone transition to the new campus when the time comes.” 

When I told students that I was writing a profile on our Assistant Head of School, Mr. Peden, I got a lot of confused faces and lots of, “Who’s that?” It is very important to know about staff members, especially one with such a big title. Mr. Peden wanted to state that while he may not be in the most student-facing role, he wonders, “How can I help impact and improve the student's lives?” Mr. Peden is a big fan of Galloway as a school and a community and thinks, “Galloway is one of those hidden gems in Atlanta. I love getting to tell people I work here.” Mr. Peden has already done a great job improving our school, and he has amazing goals to continue improving the school.