By Jadynne Brady
Editor-in-Chief
Chris Esch is a retiring English teacher here at Blue Springs South.
How long have you been teaching?
26 years.
What did you teach?
English. All English.
Where have you worked previously?
I worked at William Chrisman High School as a hall monitor for two years before I was an actual teacher, but my entire teaching career has been here.
Why have you decided to retire now?
Time. The job of teacher takes a lot, emotionally, and just the ability to commit to the job the way it needs to be done. It’s taxing. So, 26 years it’s time for me to move on to something else.
How does it feel to be leaving?
Bittersweet? I mean, I’m excited about it. My wife’s a teacher as well, and she’s going to be retiring a year from now, so we’ve got plans to do some travel and things like that. But also, I love what I do. And I’m going to miss it. I’ve had the experience several times now where I’m teaching something, [and] oh, that’s the last time I’m going to do this. That’s kind of bittersweet. So, I’ll miss the people, the kids for sure, and colleagues, for sure.
What are you planning on doing after this?
Well, I don’t know. I’m a hobbies guy, so I’ll keep myself busy. But I’ll probably come back and sub a little bit. I don’t know, but mostly, like I said, when my wife retires, I’d like to travel, just kind of relax, enjoy life a little bit.
What are some hobbies? Can you give me an example?
Oh, sure, yeah. I love to write. Love to read. I love movies. There’s a couple of famous movie festivals, like the Toronto Film Festival that happens during the school year, that my wife and, when she’s retired, we’ll go do kind of stuff like that. I love puzzles. I like to design board games. Fun stuff. Lots of that kind of stuff to keep me busy.
What are you going to miss about teaching?
The relationships, getting to know kids, especially as an English teacher. Because through writing, we really, actually get to know our kids so well than most teachers do. And just discover all these awesome young people that have so much potential. Especially that’s why I love teaching sophomores so much. It’s kind of that year where you get your driver’s license. Just discover who you are a little bit. It’s just cool to be a part of it.
What are you going to miss about South?
With South, you know, don’t want to be redundant, it’s just great people. It’s amazing to me how many people that have worked other places, because I’ve only ever worked here. I don’t know any different, but so many people I know that have worked other places will be like, oh no, no, this is a special place, and I’ve experienced it firsthand. [I’ve] had, over the course of 26 years, there’s been some like family tragedies and things like that have come up over time, and the way the staff rallies around and supports each other and has each other’s backs. It’s a pretty cool place to be.
What got you in teaching?
Kind of the family business? My dad was an elementary school principal. My mom had a teaching degree, although she didn’t teach, she ended up staying home with kids and then got a job at a bank later. But my brother has his teaching degree. My sister is a retired teacher. [It’s] kind of what people in our family do. I’ve always loved reading and writing. So I’ve always thought I’d be a teacher. I actually started off as a social studies major but then switched over to English.
Why’d you switch?
Because I think there’s a lot of similarities between the two. A lot of it [social studies] is just about stories. But I found myself more compelled by some fictional stories. There’s a book that I read in high school, Brave New World. It’s a really eye-opening book for me, really just the ideas behind it and the discussions that we had. The idea of taking some a piece of fiction, a piece of literature, and being able to really dive into it and explore what it means to be human. It’s kind of what got me to this.
Do you have a favorite memory?
Let’s see, a favorite memory. One of the cooler things I think that ever happened was in 2008 one of our former students here, David Cook, won American Idol. And it was this surreal time, they had the concert here, right? It was a big deal. It was pretty neat during that time. That was pretty awesome.
Do you have any advice for future teachers?
The best advice I’ve ever got when I was starting out that I’d pass on, and it’s actually good life advice, not even just good teacher advice, is find the teacher that you want to be like. And then spend time with that person or people, it could be multiple. Because I think that stuff rubs off, I think the people you associate with rubs off on you. When I was young, starting out, I had a couple teachers I looked up to and I just made sure to glom onto them and pick their brains and hang out with them. You know, became friends. I think it made me a better teacher, a better person.
Do you have anything else? Anything else I should know?
Only that Mr. McCleary is one of my oldest friends, and seeing him day to day and having him give me a hard time and grill me will be one of the things I miss.
