[Hank 91]

I've absolutely loved pretty much every day of the 26 years I've spent teaching and coaching. As I tell people all the time, I love the daily work in the classroom and the gym, but nothing beats the long term connections. I've kept in touch with so many former students and players, attending high school and college graduations and weddings, meeting children, and even working with some as colleagues. (Soon enough I'll have some of their children in class; a boy who ran track for me twenty years ago has a daughter at my school, and another boy from my first basketball team has a son on the way.) I've gone to see former players playing high school and college sports. I've even become close friends with some of their parents.

The most difficult part of my job, the way I choose to do it, is that I become connected with the students who sit in my classroom for nine months, but the reality is that after they leave middle school, the vast majority -- 80%? -- are never seen again. Four years ago I lost a group of eight girls who were in my class in the seventh grade and ate lunch in my room every day during the eighth grade. After graduation that year I was sad for weeks; I told my wife that I felt like it was preparation for when our own children left for college. The good news, though? Those same girls graduated high school this past June, and last month we all got together for one more lunch. I heard updates on their lives, learned their plans for college and beyond, and got to sit back and watch as they reminisced, gossiped, and joked, just as when they were sitting in my classroom years ago.

It wasn't until midway through my senior year of college that I thought I might enjoy teaching; I can't imagine having done anything else.

[Hank 91]

I've absolutely loved pretty much every day of the 26 years I've spent teaching and coaching. As I tell people all the time, I love the daily work in the classroom and the gym, but nothing beats the long term connections. I've kept in touch with so many former students and players, attending high school and college graduations and weddings, meeting children, and even working with some as colleagues. (Soon enough I'll have some of their children in class; a boy who ran track for me twenty years ago has a daughter at my school, and another boy from my first basketball team has a son on the way.) I've gone to see former players playing high school and college sports. I've even become close friends with some of their parents.

The most difficult part of my job, the way I choose to do it, is that I become connected with the students who sit in my classroom for nine months, but the reality is that after they leave middle school, the vast majority -- 80%? -- are never seen again. Four years ago I lost a group of eight girls who were in my class in the seventh grade and ate lunch in my room every day during the eighth grade. After graduation that year I was sad for weeks; I told my wife that I felt like it was preparation for when our own children left for college. The good news, though? Those same girls graduated high school this past June, and last month we all got together for one more lunch. I heard updates on their lives, learned their plans for college and beyond, and got to sit back and watch as they reminisced, gossiped, and joked, just as when they were sitting in my classroom years ago.

It wasn't until midway through my senior year of college that I thought I might enjoy teaching; I can't imagine having done anything else.