Instead of school pictures in color, pictures taken in schools many years ago were in black and white. Mrs. Ruth McCollough is one of those teachers who still had her picture taken in black and white. Picture Contributed By: Mrs. Ruth McCollough

By Keaton Espich

At one point in life, the decision must be made of what career to chase after. Different career choices are made, and there are those who commit to becoming teachers.

Individuals who have become teachers all approached it in a different way. Mrs. Jennifer Felke, a business/technology teacher, had a different career before she made her decision to be a teacher. “I worked in the business world for 18 years before I decided I wanted to become a teacher,” said Mrs. Felke. Mr. Dwight Beguin, a math teacher, has a different reason on how he became a teacher. “When I was in third grade, I had a teacher from Georgia. I had a great experience being in her class, despite some medical issues. She let me work at my own pace, as fast as I wanted to go,” Mr. Beguin said.

Throughout the years, Mrs. Ruth McCollough has seen how teachers  have changed the way they teach. Photo By: Keaton Espich

There are a handful of teachers who as children had another career path in mind, but somehow they became teachers. For Mrs. Ruth McCollough, a FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) teacher, she imagined herself as “…a Floral designer and a drag racer, a pastry chef, and landscape designer.” Mr. Ryan Bales had a different job in mind as well. “I envisioned myself being a college basketball coach,” he said. Mrs. Jodi Kallenberg, an orchestra director, said that she did not see herself becoming anything else.

Throughout these years, ways of teaching have changed. Señora Constancia Wendt, a Spanish teacher, gives her view on how her teaching has changed. “We have more technology available to us, which makes the job easier, overall, and gives us exciting options for students,” said Señora Wendt. Mr. Beguin has a different opinion on how teaching has changed for him. “Some things don’t change. I can remember when we used to have chalkboards and the discussion was ‘Are green boards better than black boards?'”

For certain teachers, following a different career path has changed their lives in a way that they may not have expected. The decisions they made helped pave the way to their career, while also changing another goal.