By Olivia Svoboda

Copy Editor

After a 28-year long career in the Blue Springs School District, social studies teacher Eric Sapp is retiring.

“I was at Blue Springs High School my first two years, then I came to South, was here for three, and then got voluntold to go to the Freshmen Center when it opened, and I was at the Freshmen Center probably about six years. And then came back to South about 2006 or so, 2005-6 as the A Plus Coordinator, and I did that for about six years, and then around 2012 went back to teaching,” Sapp said.

Sapp has spent about 20 years of his career at South, though a chunk of that time went to the A Plus Program. In 2022, though, current students will just know him as a social studies teacher.

“I’ve taught geography, when we used to offer that, world history, government at the freshman level, AP government, and AP U.S.,” he said.

His favorite classes to teach have been world history and AP government.

During his own school years, Sapp attended Hickman Mills High School in Kansas City and the University of Central Missouri for college. After graduation, he stayed close by working in the Blue Springs School District.

“Everybody in the history department gets along really well. We’re all friends. If somebody needs help, everybody is willing to help out. It’s just a great place to work, where I always feel like, administratively, I’ve always been supported, and with my coworkers. And generally speaking, this is a good school district that has good kids, too,” Sapp said.

Sapp remembers the time when he first came to teach at South and immediately felt welcomed.

“When I first came into the building, the entire, like, almost everybody in the social studies department came up to me. I was a fairly new teacher, new to the building and the subjects, I was teaching geography, world history, and the teachers that taught those subjects, they all came to me and gave me files of materials and things and were like, ‘Here’s all my stuff. You can use whatever you want. If you have any questions, ask if you need any help.’ And so it made me feel very welcomed, and it just kind of set the tone for the rest of my time here,” he said.

Sapp is excited to spend more time with his family during retirement, and he’s looking forward to potentially doing “grandpa daycare” sometime soon.

“Got a couple trips planned in August and September. I’ve never been able to travel in August and September, because I’ve always been back at school, so my wife and I are going on a trip in August, and then I’m actually traveling to Michigan to go meet a friend. Hang out with him for a while, early September, and then after that, I’ll probably get a part time job working, just to keep busy. And I’m thinking, just work part time at a place like Home Depot or something, just for fun and a little extra money,” he said.

Sapp hopes that South continues to succeed, whether it be in the classroom or in athletics.

“I hope that feeling I had here as being part of a family never changes for the young teachers who are coming up and coming after me,” Sapp said.