Over the past two years, middle school advocates have been sharing their thoughts on the following prompt: "What drives your spirit and commitment to middle level education?" The purpose has been to capture 'the spirit' of middle school educators?' From these stories five characteristics emerged that can help us consider how to promote the next generation of middle school leaders. Perhaps using the findings from this exercise can help us advocate for the next generation of middle school leaders. For the purpose of this study, middle school refers to those who work with 10-15 year olds and includes intermediate schools, a K-8, middle schools, junior highs, or 9th grade academies.