Josh Beverlin

After recently being hired as Athletic Director, Josh Beverlin’s Jasper County educational journey has traveled full circle. His tone shifts, conveying pride as he shares that he was born in the area and graduated from Newton Community High School. After graduating college, he returned to teach and coach at his alma mater. And while he stepped away from teaching for just shy of a decade to help run his family’s ag oil service business, his recent return allows him to flex his teaching and administrative muscle as the athletic director.

Josh laughs and suggests that, like his father and grandfather, his role was to do whatever was needed to ensure area farmers and small business owners who depended on him had the fuel they needed to operate. While some days he’d be going over finances or making sales, on others he’d get behind the wheel and make deliveries throughout Jasper County and the surrounding area. Ultimately, when Beverlin Oil sold in 2022, Josh was provided an opportunity to return to teaching.

With administration in sight, Josh had earned his master’s degree from Eastern Illinois University, attending on weekends while teaching. While he hadn’t worked in administration before stepping away from teaching, his master’s degree and coaching experience left him uniquely qualified to step into the athletic director role when Craig Carr retired.

“I love to watch our kids compete,” says Josh. “ When we’ve got a soccer game on the road and a football game at home. That’s what I like—seeing your kids in their element with their coaches. Some things need to happen before the game starts. I’ve learned to appreciate it even more when it comes together like it’s supposed to. I love it.”

He adds, “When these kids compete, the town’s name is on their chest. These kids are out there representing us. In Newton, there’s not a lot of industry, so we work with people from Robinson, Effingham, and T-Town. This is our opportunity to represent; to go back to work and talk about it the next day. And hopefully, with bragging rights.”

Josh also teaches behind-the-wheel high school driver’s education and junior high finance. A common theme is his focus on ensuring the lessons his students receive translate to realworld application. His eyes light up as he shares that his junior high finance course is starting to learn about budgeting, just as he lights up when he talks about the important lessons his students learn through athletics.

“You work your butt off, and sometimes it comes to fruition; sometimes it doesn’t. You learn from adversity. Things don’t always go right. That’s life. How do you deal with it? Somebody’s criticizing you. How do you deal with it? Do you shut down or ask if there’s truth to it and learn how to get better? You see these athletes later. They become leaders. They’re successful, and I think a lot of it has to do with what they learned on the court or the field.”

Ultimately, Josh’s hope is simple. Whether his students become farmers or mechanics or doctors or lawyers, he hopes that the lessons they learn in his classroom and through athletics help them become who they want to be. “I just hope they grab something from a teacher, a coach, or a teammate and that helps them through life,” concludes Josh.