Some say it is a tough job to be an assistant principal, having to always discipline students and carrying out school policy. However, new assistant principal Travis Eppleman is used to dealing with tough characters.
Before coming to Socastee, he was a Navy Corpsman with the Marines and also worked as a police officer for the City of Myrtle Beach for four years.
“I got out of the Navy and used my GI bill and went to school and went to college for education,” he said.
He started substitute teaching, but got into law enforcement because it didn’t pay enough.
“I had a family and had bills to pay so I got into law enforcement, but knew I always wanted to be a teacher,” said Mr. Eppleman, who has three kids under the age of 5.
Eventually he became a social studies teacher at Carolina Forest and was also a football coach there.
“I had some really good teachers and coaches in high school, and they had a huge impact on me, so I knew I wanted to get into education,” he said.
Mr. Eppleman has lived in many places. He grew up in South Jersey and is a lifelong Philadelphia Eagles fan. Then, with the military he traveled to Afghanistan, Haiti, Kuwait, Greece, Turkey, Bahrain, Dubai, and Spain.
“I went to so many places I would have never been to if I didn’t join the Navy,” he said.
