Strength in leadership: Vice Principal Jackie Rhodes breaks national deadlift record, inspires students

It’s the typical busy day at Putnam City West for Vice Principal Jackie Rhodes. The chaos of corralling and helping kids is her happy place.

“Mrs. Rhodes, you know she has a strong presence in the school. You can hear her coming from a mile away, loud voice,” said PC West student Aries Bruins.

Being a principal, for Rhodes, requires her to be a strong woman, so she comes to the gym to get her strength.

“I do strong man or strong woman. I used to do power lifting, from 2018 to 2021,” said Rhodes.

She loves the challenge and the discipline of the sport, but also hopes to inspire others, especially her students.

“Encouraging my students to see that you can do hard things, and you have to be consistent, you have to persevere, you have to work really hard,” said Rhodes.

She’s trained by her husband, Colton, who is also a powerlifter.

“Our relationship has been built around the gym and built around, and not just going to the gym but prepping for powerlifting together,” said Rhodes.

The couple competes nationally, and at a recent competition, Jackie proved just how strong she really is in the deadlift event.

“You get three attempts, so I opened at 535, I believe,” said Rhodes.

The national record for women’s deadlift is 553 pounds, so on her third attempt, Rhodes was focused on breaking it.

“So, I took 584 for a ride and broke the record, and so now that is the current American deadlift record is 584,” said Rhodes.

Shattering the national record by over 30 pounds. It was a weight that Jackie never even attempted before.

“That was cool. That was so cool. The energy there was awesome,” said Rhodes.  

Breaking the record is definitely big, but Rhodes says she has every intention to break her new record at some point.