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Changing roles: Retiring teachers look back on MHS careers
Passing the baton to a former student
McCOOK, Neb. -- A McCook art teacher and track coach who is retiring after almost 40 years in the field is almost literally passing the baton to one of his former student athletes.
Steve Clapp, a McCook High School graduate, began coaching track at the high school 39 years ago, he said, and started teaching at McCook Schools 36 years ago. He's retiring at the end of this school year and taking his place will be one of his former art students and a state qualifying runner, Tara Powell.
After teaching and coaching hundreds of students, having one of them take the helm is both humbling and exciting for Clapp, he said.
"It's great that someone I may have influenced had enough interest to continue in education," he said. "Over the years, we've had several take an interest in teaching art."
Being able to adapt is the best piece of advice he could give to Powell and new teachers in general, he said. In teaching, "You have to change with times, especially with technology. When I started, all we had was a grade book and pencil. Now, there's more technology and more assessments."
In addition to being the art teacher, Clapp also led the girls high school track team as the head coach, with many athletes through the years qualifying and winning at state track. A motto he has lived by as a teacher and coach, and tried to pass on to his students and athletes, was the saying, "To get what you've never had, you must do what you've never done."
Elective classes, especially in the fine arts area, are vital for students, seeing numerous students become productive citizens because of one particular elective class, he wrote in his resignation letter to the school board.
Despite spending nearly four decades in education, Clapp said the one thing that has stayed the same are the students.
"Kids are kids, they're going to do the same stuff we probably did as kids," he said. "Some kids learn early on what it takes to be productive in life, some kids take a while before they figure it out. And some never figure it out."
Retiring PE instructor always wanted to teach
McCOOK, Neb. -- Even after 40 years of teaching physical education at McCook Elementary, Randy Ryser said it never felt like drudgery for him.
"All this time, I didn't think of it as having to work," Ryser said, who also coached girls golf at McCook High School and will be retiring at the end of this school year. "There was never a time when I did not want to come to school, there was something every day that me glad to be here."
After four decades, though, his age is catching up with him.
"I don't have quite the energy that I used to have," he admitted. "And the wife and I have some things we'd like to do while we still have our health."
But he'll miss the kids. Education is something he always wanted to do, he said, knowing since the third grade that he wanted to teach.
Some teachers along the way solidified his decision, specifically his sixth grade teacher, Neva Haney in Cheyene Wells, Colorado, and his brother-in-law, former coach and McCook Community College instructor, Rudy Gerstner.
Haney showed him the value and enjoyment of books, Ryser said, and he admired Gerstner for the way he treated people, "always so gracious to everyone."
Ryser's own legacy is just as stellar. McCook School Board member Loretta Hauxell, at Monday night's regular school board meeting, commented that Ryser was a "top notch teacher."
"He knew how to have a sense of fun but also have discipline. And he had so much patience with the kids," she said
He was dead-set on teaching high school, Ryser said, until his first day on the job at the elementary school. After that, he didn't want to go anywhere else.
"The unique, off-beat things say, I should have wrote a book about that, but I never had time," he said.
Treating kids with respect is key for Ryser. "I like to treat them like little adults," he said. "It's like the Golden Rule: treat others the same way you would want to be treated."
Being true to your self will serve new teachers well, he said.
"The number one thing, whatever they do, is they have to be themselves," Ryser advised. "If you come across as honest, fair and caring, and it's real, it will show."
Bittersweet time for science/math teacher
McCOOK, Neb. -- How long has Cathy Jones been teaching?
"I say forever," laughed Jones, a McCook High School alumni who estimated 31-plus teaching years under her belt. Jones will be retiring at the end of this school year, after teaching science and math at the high school and says the decision was bittersweet.
"If I could cut myself in half, I would," she said, adding that when she was young, she never intended on teaching in the first place.
But while attending McCook Junior College, she had two influential teachers that changed her mind about that, Mary McKenzie and Harlan Wyrick.
"They had a huge influence on me. They were conservative but very passionate about teaching, with high expectations, a lot like me," she said. Jones said sometimes she had the reputation of being the "mean" teacher, but that wasn't really the case.
"Sometimes I feel we spoon-feed the kids a lot, don't let them struggle, but kids learn in their struggles," she explained. "Struggles are a part of learning and sometime we rescue them too quickly."
The changes in education through in the past 30 years were immense, she said. "I always felt, just leave me in my room and let me teach, but there's so much more to it than that, now." New teachers would do well to speak up and ask for help when they need it, she advised.
"Don't be afraid to say I don't know and don't feel you're alone," she said. "The staff will offer you lots of support and are always there to help."
Jones' resignation was approved by the McCook School Board Monday night, with board member Diane Lyons commenting that both her daughters were influenced by the teacher and later chose the same career.
Jones wants to travel more with her husband after retiring and with grandchildren living in McCook, plans on attending as many of their activities as possible.
"I'm not going to miss any more of my grandkids events," she vowed. "Even if I'm sick, I'll wear a mask and go."