Marion-Florence teachers preparing for life after classes
Sports reporter
If someone told Steve Janzen and Judi Stewart they'd be teaching in Marion USD 408 for 28 years before they started, they probably would have thought it would never end.
This past week it finally did.
Janzen, a Marion Middle School teacher, and Stewart a Marion Elementary School teacher, ended their teaching careers Thursday after 28 years in the district.
However, even though the two have reached the end of their teaching lines, the future is bright for both of them.
"It's been fun," Janzen said. "I've always known I wanted to be a teacher."
But he says he'll still be around by substitute teaching and continuing to help with driver's ed.
"On the last day my seventh grade students said 'see ya next year', and I said, 'yeah I'll be around.'"
Stewart on the other hand won't be subbing for at least a semester, but does plan to find more time for her grandkinds.
"We (her husband Ron) are planning to travel and do some visiting," she said.
That may include Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, where the Stewarts' 10 grandchildren are spread apart.
However, that doesn't mean Judi and Ron won't be staying in Marion, despite Oklahoma being the couple's first home.
"Oklahoma isn't really home anymore," Judi said. "Plus Kansas is central to all the grandchildren."
Janzen isn't going anywhere either, as Marion County always has been home to the teacher of 31 years.
The teacher who has taught English, PE, health, reading, driver's ed, among other subjects, was born and raised in Peabody, and his wife Phoebe, a Marion High School counselor, called nearby Burns home.
The two graduated from Peabody High School, and were high school sweethearts.
"Why would we go anywhere else?" he asked.
Watching for success
Both Stewart and Janzen agree one of the most rewarding aspects of teaching is watching how their former students perform once they leave the classroom.
Janzen, who has coached sports for 31 years as well, remembers a football team he had at Everest in his second year of teaching before coming to Marion. When players from that middle school team played in the state championship their senior year in high school, he was there to watch them.
He also can remember a student named Paul Haines from the '70s, who won the state spelling bee. He then went on to compete in the national spelling bee in Washington, D.C.
"He would correct me if I pronounced the word wrong, and then spell it," Janzen said.
Stewart likes to keep in touch with her former students, and received five graduation announcements this year.
She also enjoys it when she has a former student's child in her class.
"That's so cool," she said. "I know their grandparents because I had their parents."
Janzen had students of his former students, which he also thought was cool, but the two were connected in another way as well.
A different approach
For two years Stewart taught an "open class," which she called a "most awesome experience."
The open class consisted of 50 students from first through fifth grade in the same classroom. The connection with Steve included having three of his children together in the open class.
"It was a fabulous time," Stewart said. "They all learned to be more responsible."
Stewart took her five fifth graders in the class and assigned them younger students to look after.
The paperwork was astounding Stewart said, but the younger kids learned from the older students, and the older students learned responsibility.
A lawsuit ended the program after two years, but Stewart would have continued teaching had it not.
"I didn't have a bit of trouble," she said.
Not just teaching
In addition to his 28 years of teaching at USD 408, Janzen spent three years in Everest Middle School.
He also has been coaching sports since he left Emporia State University. He's spent 31 years coaching football, and 22 coaching basketball and track.
While he was coaching and teaching, Janzen earned a master's from ESU, and continued to do what he loved most: teaching and coaching.
He was named the Kansas Coaching Association Middle School Coach of the Year in 1984. Since his 28-year coaching stint as MMS track coach, all but one of the schools' record have been broken.
All except?
"Stan Williams' mile record," Janzen said. "We've had some kids come close including Louis Holt this year. It will be broken some day," he said with a laugh.
The future
Although Stewart admitted crying "just about the whole day" the last day of school, she is ready for another chapter in her life.
"I promised one of my grandchildren a quilt," she said. "When you're teaching you sometimes have to put projects on the back burner."
Now, she can focus more on her family. It's time to pass the torch on to the younger teachers.
Stewart is hoping the current teachers with some experience will help the newer teachers like she was when she first started.
"So many teachers helped me along with way," Stewart said.
She also expressed her gratitude for everyone who worked at the school who was not a teacher. The support staff she said, is vital to the school succeeding, and help the students get through the day as much as teachers.
"Everyone here is so friendly, they are how you get through the day," she said. "They don't get mentioned, but they matter."
Janzen is looking forward to being able to focus on things at home and not as much at school, but he'll also be ready for the next school year. This summer driver's ed will continue, and he'll see some of his former students as a sub. But he won't ever forget all the students he's had during his time doing what he loved.
"I've had some great kids to work with over the years," he said.
