Sidelight: Michelle Osterhoudt

SIDELIGHT

Michelle Osterhoudt, superintendent of Margaretville Central School in upstate New York, was nurturing a newfound love of country music when superstar Morgan Wallen was recorded using a racial slur in 2021. Then a local NAACP leader, Osterhoudt contacted Nashville’s chapter, then connected with Wallen’s management. She learned that “context is everything” and concluded that maybe Wallen wasn’t the person the media portrayed. The experience sparked her first country music article for a local newspaper and launched a country music journalism hobby. She regularly attends shows and festivals to write about musicians for The Country Note, an online publication, and her blog, Michelle Writes and Snaps. Osterhoudt, a four-year AASA member, considers it a continuation of her relationship-first approach to leadership. “I seek the truth,” she says.