Menu
New teachers: It's what they always wanted to do
Amy Scheil received only one “C” in school. And the teacher who gave it was by far her favorite.
“I had my grandma for middle school science and my only C in school came from her,” Scheil said, who will be the new physical education teacher at McCook High School. “I didn’t get special attention from her and I was expecting it. I mean, it was my grandma! But I probably screwed around a lot in her class, so I deserved it.”
But something in the education field must have clicked, because later, Scheil became an educator herself and taught math and P.E. for about 20 years.
“I’ve always like working with people, sharing what I know, and vice versa,” she said.
Scheil grew up in Harvard, Neb., and attended Concordia University with scholarships for softball and basketball. After graduation, she taught math and science in Davenport, Neb., and taught the same at Ashland/Greenland and at Palmer, Neb. She also helped coached volleyball, softball, girl’s basketball and track while teaching.
At one point, she decided to take a hiatus from teaching and opened a bar and grill restaurant in Ashland, mainly to see if she could do it.
“I told myself if I wasn’t excited about teaching, I would leave. It was a time to re-evaluate. And I’ve always wanted to run my own business, so the time was right,” Scheil said. The business became a success and with managers in place to keep it operating, she was ready to go back to teaching. “I got excited again,” Schiel said.
She will be the first female P.E. teacher at the high school in recent memory but Schiel doesn’t expect it to go any differently.
“I’ve taught high school P.E. before and the boys were always very respectful,” she said, who in addition to gym classes, will teach weightlifting, a health class and be the assistant coach for volleyball and the head coach for girls basketball.
Her goal with P.E. is to make students realize that physical fitness can be a life-long interest. To do that, she plans on “mixing it up a bit,” with activities like sand volleyball and frisbee golf.
“I plan to innovate ways to make health and P.E. exciting to students, and I’m open to ideas from kids,” she said.
But what if a student is really not into physical fitness? “I don’t care about talent, but the effort level,” Schiel said. “An activity is not enjoyable it it’s hard to do, so we can improvise to make it enjoyable and fun for them.”
She’s passing the teaching torch onto the next generation, with her son student-teaching this year. Schiel said she did not encourage or discourage him from education, only to “Do something that you love.”
Sasha Burton, the new fourth grade special education teacher at Central Elementary said she’s known she wanted to be at teacher since junior high.
Growing up in Arnold, Neb., Burton graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and later earned a master’s in 7-12 special education.
She taught sixth grade for one year at Lake Maloney in North Platte, and special education for four years at Southwest Public Schools in Bartley, Neb., for grades 7 to 12.
Education was always in her sights, Burton said, although she wasn’t sure exactly how. “In third grade I thought I wanted to be a professional babysitter,” Burton laughed.
Her favorite part of teaching is “when it clicks, that a-ha moment,” she said, and the relationships she has with the kids.
With two small children - Braxton, 2 1/2 and Reagan, three months - getting everyone dressed, fed and off in the morning can be a challenge, but her husband, Burton, helps out a lot, as well as her mother-in-law.
“I am so blessed, she is so flexible. If I have to stay late or go in early, she’s willing to keep them for me,” she said. “I’ve definitely learned it takes a village to raise kids.”
Although she always knew she’d be in education, Burton said she was also certain of another thing: that she would steer clear of the medical field.
“I was never going to be a nurse, I don’t like the sight of blood,” Burtons said, whose mother is a nurse. But, this may have changed a little after having two kids.
“There’s nothing like going through labor to take away any sense of decency you have,” she joked.
Lauren Miller, the new ag and FFA teacher for McCook High School is ready to take the bull by the horns.
McCook “has the potential to have one of the best, if not the best, FFA in state,” said Lauren Miller, brimming with confidence and enthusiasm. “Its just a matter of utilizing their potential and growing membership numbers.”
This means students will be participating in a variety of different FFA contests, “getting them out and not just sitting in a classroom,” she said.
She’s been around agriculture her entire life. Growing up on a cow/calf, corn and soybean operation in Sumner, Neb., she started out in 4-H as an eight year old, showing sheep. Later, Miller became active with FFA in junior high and high school, showing so much zeal for the program that the advisor commented that she would make a great ag teacher. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in ag education and taught ag education for two years at Elm Creek, Neb.
Miller said she’s seen FFA grow the past three to five years with lots of new added programs. “Communities are becoming more aware how important FFA is...with the ag industry getting stronger. FFA encourages students to come back and invest in the community,” she said.
One way to do that is to teach students about the multitude career options in ag, she said, besides the traditional veterinary and faming jobs. With the ag-based economy in Nebraska, “there are plenty of jobs to choose from,” she said.
“Farming is not just cows and plows but involves financing, marketing crops, science and genetics. And genetics is getting huge,” Miller said.
FFA also includes horticulture and botany, with a large shop area next to her classroom formerly used for welding being turned into a green house. With welding classes moved to McCook Community College, she will use the area to grow pointsettias, spring flowers and vegetables that will be sold as fundraisers for FFA. A grant will be used to buy a vertical growing tower to hydroponically grow (in water instead of soil) vegetables, that will be donated to the school cafeteria.
She will also be kept busy teaching plant science, floraculture, animal science, advance animal science, Intro to Ag, ag business, agronomy, and an eighth grade exploratory class.
Bring it on, Miller would say.
“It’s more important than ever to step up and talk about the truth of the industry, to dispell misconceptions about agriculture.” she said. Most kids in Nebraska are now the third or fourth generation removed from the family farm and they need to know how they get their food, Miller maintained. “Some kids really have no clue how their food gets to them. Some kids in Omaha actually think brown milk comes from a brown cow.”
Miller and her husband, Will, who is a financial accountant for an ag operation, live on an acreage outside of Culbertson, where he has 30 head of cattle and she hopes to bring some sheep on board.
Agriculture has been a big part of Miller’s life and even played a part in her marriage. She and Will first met at a high school camp for — what else? — FFA.