The Jag
By Jadynne Brady
Editor-in-Chief
Most people become a teacher by going to college and pursuing a teaching degree, then getting the job. New business teacher Blake Sanderson had a different approach.
Sanderson had helped coach girls track at South before he became a business teacher.
“It was so much fun that I was like, I could do this forever,” Sanderson says, “This environment was so much fun. Those girls were so good to me. And so, I started exploring what it would look like to be in education.”
Soon, he was able to land a job through some connections and a last-minute retirement.
“It’s kind of a perfect quick storm of being able to start teaching,” Sanderson says.
So far, he has enjoyed the people the most.
“I think what gets me the most excited to be here is being around the students,” says Sanderson, “I think that the love that you feel here, it’s pretty legit. It’s pretty special.”
While working here, Sanderson wants to make sure that he is both teaching effectively, while also supporting his students.
“Another one [goal] is just being there for students.” Sanderson says. “I think that’s important, especially in the later stages of high school, when you’re about to jump from one phase of life to another. I don’t think you can get enough advice or enough help.”
Because business is an elective, it means that it’s different to teach from a core subject, as many of the students in the class chose to be there. Sanderson finds that it’s not harder to teach, despite it being different.
“Believe it or not, you could lecture [business] pretty easily, like you would in math and English.” Sanderson says. “There are still a lot of concepts that you can teach same thing, same ways as the core. I would say business is much easier to teach because it is so much easier to connect with the real world.”
He first got his bachelor’s from K-State, then went on to get his master’s in business from UMKC.
Sanderson originally is from a small town in Kansas.
“I grew up in northwest Kansas, Goodland, specifically. It’s about six hours from here on I-70, about two and a half hours from Denver. That’s where I was born and raised,” he says.
Sanderson enjoys playing video games in his free time.
“I really, really like the Mass Effect series; that’s probably my favorite.” Sanderson says. “But I haven’t played those in a while. I’ve just been playing Call of Duty, Battlefield, stuff like that.”
Personally, his dad inspired him to continue to move forward.
“He had like, five, six, seven, eight different jobs over the time when I was a kid. It’s one of those deals like, no matter what life throws you, you just got to take the next right step,” says Sanderson.
Sanderson has found inspiration at South from computer science and engineering teacher Jennifer Espinozia.
“She’s one of my role models in the district,” he says. Sanderson says that he admired her “attitude towards her life” and how she faces challenges.
As the year continues, Sanderson has enjoyed getting more comfortable with the students.
“Now that we’re into week three, I’ve made a lot of progress, and it’s really cool to start seeing some of them come out of their shell a little bit and be a little bit more comfortable in the class. That has been the best part so far, and I think that’ll only get better,” he says.
