Gregg Thompson has been around schools for most of his life.
This past Wednesday marked his 60th first day of school, counting kindergarten, and his first as the headmaster at Indianola Academy.
“I’ve been around education for a long time,” Thompson told The Enterprise-Tocsin during an interview this week.
Thompson grew up in Miami, Florida, the son of missionary parents who lived stateside and worked in publishing and church leadership training in the Spanish-speaking world.
“When I graduated from college, I had anticipated heading into the mission field,” Thompson said.
The Wheaton College graduate and math and secondary education major soon discovered that there was a unique mission opportunity in Christian schools in the United States.
He went to work at Wheaton Academy in Illinois right out of college teaching math and computer science. During his eight-year stint at the school, Thompson began to work on his master’s in education degree at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, where he met his wife, Beverly.
Thompson eventually took a job at a Christian academy in Augusta, serving six of the eight years there in an administration role.
He followed that with a 22-year stint at a Christian school in Macon.
All the while, he and his wife raised four kids, who now live in Georgia, South Carolina and Florida.
When their kids had all graduated from college, Thompson said that an opportunity presented itself to serve as the head of a Christian school overseas.
He and his wife made the move to Indonesia, and he served the last five-and-a-half years there to go along with six months serving as a consultant.
“It was a really neat experience, working in a system of five international schools,” Thompson said.
The five international faith-based schools were part of a system working across Indonesia, he said.
“They were preparing Indonesian children to go to university internationally,” Thompson said.
All the while, Thompson was able to impact those students for Christ, while giving them a solid foundation in academics.
“One thing that you realize after working in different places is that kids are kids, and parents want the best for their kids, and they have some of the same hopes and dreams whether they are Asian, American or European,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that his wife has spent over 20 years as a Bible teacher, leading Bible studies. She continued that mission while in Jakarta, he said.
When the couple decided that it was time to move back to the States, Thompson said that they had thought they would pursue opportunities closer to where their children live.
He was presented with two opportunities to be a headmaster, one in Florida and the other in Indianola.
“I just felt that it was a better fit here in Indianola, even though the school in Florida was a much bigger school,” Thompson said. “Based on the leadership and governance structure, Indianola was the better fit…We felt called by the Lord to come to Indianola.”
Indianola and Indianola Academy are small compared to the cities and schools Thompson has led, but he is used to being in tight-knit school communities, like the one he served at in Indonesia.
“Our community was very close-knit,” he said. “I don’t mind the small community and a place where everyone knows each other.”
Thompson said that no matter the size of the town or the school, the mission is always the same, and that is to make a difference in the lives of kids and partnering with parents to make that happen.
“You can do that in the Delta as well as well as any place else,” Thompson said.
Thompson said that he has been impressed with the amount of support IA continues to receive from its alumni and the community as a whole.
He also feels that the education foundation is strong at the school.
“I’ve been really impressed by the men and women who make up the faculty at Indianola Academy,” he said.
Thompson said that he is looking forward to meeting more parents, and of course the students, in the weeks to come.
Thompson takes over as headmaster at IA, following interim head of school Dr. David Pitre, who served in that capacity for most of the 2023-24 school year.
