Erwin McIntosh, Summit Academy Community School – Cincinnati’s new Assistant Principal, says he looks forward to creating a school environment that fosters students’ growth academically and emotionally.
McIntosh has already laid solid groundwork for his administrative goals. He previously taught therapeutic martial arts at Cincinnati Community school from 2020 -2023 and has served as a math teacher at the school since 2023. He continues to teach math, noting his appreciation for the challenges of teaching the subject to students who struggle with it.
McIntosh not only brings a wealth of credentials, but the gift of role modeling to his students. “I love wearing suits to work so that my students can see and work with a professional black man,” he says.
In his new position, McIntosh supports the school’s teaching staff with disciplinary issues and assists with strategic planning and aligning the high school and elementary school. In addition, he works with Principal Jenette Mulholland to create a safe environment and to foster education and overall staff growth and support, among his other duties.
Reflecting on his past four years with Summit Academy and his interest in putting his energy and talents into the school, McIntosh says, “I love the therapeutic approach to teaching martial arts and the challenge of teaching our students self-discipline, self-control and self-defense through martial arts.”
McIntosh knows a thing or two about martial arts. An 8th Degree Black Belt in Moo Kuk Kwon Tang Soo Do (Korean Style Karate), he is the Grandmaster Karate instructor in the National Black Belt Karate Association Foundation and Chief Martial Arts Instructor at Bethel AME Church in Cincinnati.
McIntosh holds yet another title, the Reverend McIntosh. He has served as a pastor since 1997, when he received his license to preach the Gospel from Quinn Chapel AME Church in Forest Park, Ohio. He was ordained as an Itinerant Elder in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (South Ohio Annual Conference) in 2002. The Rev. McIntosh is currently the pastor of Bethel AME Church in Lockland, Ohio.
A past president of the Greater Cincinnati Ministerial Alliance who has served as a pastor for several churches in Ohio and Pennsylvania, McIntosh says he prefers the title headwaiter over pastor. “My job is to set the example of how to serve and is therefore the first to serve,” he says.
McIntosh earned both his Associate and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Cincinnati. He went on to receive a Master of Science in Administration and Master of Divinity from Central Michigan University and Payne Theological Seminary, respectively. He also served in the United States Army as a lab technologist.
While his accomplishments are many, McIntosh says his greatest of all is his 43-year marriage to his wife, Jacqueline, since April 4, 1981. The couple has four sons, Erwin III, Stephen (both 2nd Degree Black Belts), Jamale and Jonathon, and eight grandchildren, Hunter Isaiah, Alayna Morgan, Logan James, Mya Christine, Adelia, Quinten, Colton and River.