Growing up on a small farm in Missouri taught Ronald Lankford not to be afraid of hard work - a good lesson for a future career as an educator.
From the time he was in high school it was well-known that he would become a teacher. He always enjoyed school and liked being around people.
His father had only made it through eighth grade, but he was a smart and hard-working man. His mother made it through high school and was a strong advocate for higher education. Both his parents wanted Lankford and his siblings to go to college.
Lankford was among the first to attend the Jasper County Joplin Junior College when it opened in 1967, and he went on to get his bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
He spent 37 years in public education before starting as deputy commissioner at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.
He helps oversee the financial and administrative side that is responsible for about $4 billion of the state budget for education. His team ensures districts are receiving their funding and support for programs.
After six years and about 300 round trips from Jefferson City - where Lankford lives during the week - to Webb City, where his wife lives, Lankford is retiring at the end of this month. When he started with the department, he made a personal commitment to stay five years and decided to stay one more to help transition the new deputy commissioner into his role.
Lankford began his career in 1973 at Harrisburg High School as a junior high social studies teacher and the high school's first counselor. Missouri had recently changed its regulations and required schools to have counselors, a current school staple that was uncommon at smaller school districts.
After a year he moved to East Newton School District, where he spent three years as a social studies teacher and counselor before becoming the assistant principal and senior counselor.
From there he spent the majority of his career at Webb City R-VII School District as an administrator and worked his way up to superintendent.
During his first year as principal at Webb City High School, he quickly became unpopular with some of the students after doing away with the school smoking area. But the decision garnered him tremendous local support, especially with parents who had no idea the smoking area even existed.
While serving at the high school he channeled his energy into improving the rural school's academics and encouraged students to believe they could branch out from their small hometown. The school adopted the philosophy, "We can go anywhere from here."
"When I left, we convinced our kids that they could think beyond the city limits," he said. "They can compete athletically, in speech and debate, in quiz bowl. We can compete with anyone. Sometimes, when you grow up in an area that isn't the epicenter, you begin to think you can't compete with the epicenter."
During his tenure, the high school earned several national honors as a top rural high school. Some of the students even went on to attend Ivy League schools.
Lankford retired from Webb City in 2010 and joined DESE after he was asked to apply for the position.
The work is vastly different, he said.
"It's much more difficult work," he said. "I'm glad I've been here because it's made me appreciate my 33 years at Webb City."
One of the most difficult parts of working at the state agency is trying to create a one-size-fits-all model that works well for every school in the state, which is impossible.
Any time a change in education comes - which is often - half of the schools are for it and half of the schools are against it. Plus, so many different stakeholders have their own opinions - students, parents, teachers, administrator and state officials. All those opinions have to be considered and funneled into a plan, then you throw politics on top of that.
Having numerous perspectives himself has helped him understand every scope of educational issues.
A lot of Missourians aren't satisfied with the changes in education, but "life is about change," he said.
"The greatest fear many people have is of the unknown, and change is the unknown," Lankford said. "Education has changed a lot. Some of it is adults' educating kids to continue what we already have, but kids are going into a world that we didn't have."
Technology is one new tool that's drastically changed education, but it will never replace teachers in a classroom, he said.
Upon retiring, Lankford said he plans to move back to Webb City to be closer to his wife, Carolyn, of 46 years. He has children and grandchildren he would like to spend more time with and will have a more flexible schedule to do so.
He hasn't ironed out all the details as to what he wants to be involved with, but wants to continue to promote education somehow.
"We spend too much time dealing with the negatives," he said. "Don't wallow in them. Turn them loose and get to the positives."