Rooted in Achievement
Dr. Lowder’s Cabarrus County roots run deep, which may be one of the reasons why this homegrown leader in education has excelled to the level of superintendent.
Literally, he has been here from his beginning. He was born at Cabarrus Memorial Hospital in 1968 and spent his entire primary educational years and comprehensive professional career within the CCS district.
Learn more about Dr. Lowder’s education and professional career How inspiration from teachers in his life fuels his passion for education
Primary Educational
Years and Comprehensive
Professional Career
Royal Oaks Elementary School was where Lowder started his primary education years before his family moved to Kannapolis, where he ultimately graduated from A.L. Brown High School in 1987. It was during his formative years where the impact of his teachers’ words and expectations inspired him to pursue education as a career.
After majoring in English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he went on to get his master’s degree in the same subject at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, while he taught English at Central Cabarrus High School. As he prepared himself for educational leadership positions, he went on to get a second master’s degree in School Administration at UNCC, while also completing the North Carolina Principals Fellows program. He then became an assistant principal at Northwest Cabarrus High School and later became the assistant principal and principal at Central Cabarrus High School — where his teaching career began. In 2012, he completed his Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from UNCC. Over the years, he’s held various administrative and leadership positions, such as the district’s high school director and assistant superintendent before taking on his current role as superintendent of CCS.
Inspiration from teachers in his
life fuels his passion for education
Jane Richie
6th grade teacher“She was the first person outside of my family that believed in me and said I was very smart and could do anything I wanted to do. At that moment, I would have done anything for her. The power of her words has impacted me all of these years, and going into education I thought I too wanted to have that same impact on another young person.”
Bob Shinn
High school history teacher“He seemed to know everything about everything, and to this day he is probably the smartest person I’ve ever met. We always wanted to be around him, and I thought one day, I want people to think the same way about me as we did about him.”
Jim Rogers
High school English teacher“He had a certain standard of excellence. He would say here is where I expect you to be and this is what you can do. When I did well, he’d pat me on the back, but when I didn’t step up, he would tell me that what I did wasn’t good enough, and that I could do better than that. Those high standards stick with me to this day.”
