Steve Landry isn’t sure what the first day of school will be like for him this year. After four decades of working in education, he knows what to expect out of the average school day, but the new school year will be very different for him this time around. This time Landry won’t be there.

He’ll still be sleeping, taking a walk or playing tennis. It’s really up to him.

After 41 years of working in education, Landry retired following this past school year. He worked for Callaway High School as registrar and assistant principal for 13 years, but decided this summer to retire.

“It’s going to be real interesting. I’ve gotten into the habit all summer long of getting up and walking down at the track almost every single day,” Landry said. “It’s going to be different not having the routine and not having a place to be every single day.”

Landry began his career working at a boarding school in Connecticut for 12 years. He was a high school principal and a headmaster at two different schools in South Carolina before moving to LaGrange. He served as headmaster at LaGrange Academy for four years before accepting his position at Callaway High School.

“[The kids have] always given me tremendous energy to be around them, kept me young,” Landry said. “I’ve always enjoyed being around the kids, and I think they’ve always enjoyed being around me too, which is kind of fun.”

Landry said if he left any legacy behind, he hopes it’s his Friday shoes. Every Friday, he wore red high top shoes as a celebration of the end of the workweek.

“A lot of other people have started doing that as a celebration of Fridays,” he said. “I’m kind of hoping I can walk into Callaway one Friday and see a bunch of people wearing red Converse high tops to school.”

Landry and his wife Kathy have four kids — Maggie, Molly, Steven and Becca. All of them are college graduates.

“We have a Clemson graduate, two Georgia grads and an Auburn grad,” Landry said with a smile.

Kathy is a third grade teacher at Franklin Forest Elementary School and is working one more year before retiring. Once Kathy retires, the couple plans to use a camper they bought last year to travel.

“We are going to use that when we go see our grandchild in South Carolina and save some money there,” Landry said. “We both want to travel around the United States, so it’ll be nice to do that.”