Dr. Fatheree, MV principal, has surpassed the state average of three years in the principalship, and he has shown us how he leads by stepping up in many different ways. “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way,” -John C. Maxwell—one of which is being a speaker for FBLA’s 2025-2026 chapter conference on January 8.

Dr. Fatheree gave a speech about making your mark, and what that means.

“He was good at addressing the crowd and keeping people engaged,” Ella Capps, ‘28, shared.

“I want them to enjoy it, have fun. My staff are all highly educated in their fields, but they’re also great entertainers. I feel like my audience expects to be not only educated and entertained; I am a horrible audience member, short, focused, and fast-paced. I expect to be engaged—same expectation,” said Dr. Fatheree.

Dr. Fatheree was invited to speak to many high school FBLA members at SIU Carbondale, and he has been hard at work in this industry for two years as assistant principal, and for twenty-one years in administration in a total of four schools: Flora, Urbana, Georgetown, and Danville before coming to MV.

“I was astounded and proud that my very own principal was speaking at such a prestigious event,” Aubrey McCain, ‘27, shared.

During speeches, speakers have to get the crowd engaged, and around 40% of the audience gets distracted.

“My favorite part was that I felt like the audience was starting to get disengaged, too scared to show emotion and react, so I jumped off the stage with the handheld microphone and walked around. They were all surprised.      Everyone who stayed and said they enjoyed the presentation then invited me to share lunch with them,” shared Dr. Fatheree.

His speech lasted around an hour, while many students presented to the judges, he was guiding students to ‘make their mark.’

“If I could go back again and listen to Dr. Fatheree again, I would,” Capps said.