Picture this: You’re walking down the grocery store aisle, turn the corner, and freeze. There, holding a carton of milk and wearing flip-flops, is your math teacher. It’s a classic student reflex to dive into the next aisle to avoid eye contact. It is weird for students to see their teachers outside of the classroom because, to them, teachers live in the classroom and they often forget that teachers have their own lives too.
Lakeland teachers have their own lives outside school just as much as any other person. Mrs. Killian loves camping, boating, and going on the river during the summer. Mrs. Novak loves spending time with her family, going to Silverwood, and camping and Mr. Ballard likes hiking, running, traveling, and flying.
“I like staying active because it makes me feel healthy,” Ballard said, “I also get a second job to help pay student loans.”
While students picture Mr. Ballard at a desk in front of a keyboard or in front of a whiteboard during the summer, he is really thousands of feet in the air looking down over all of Rathdrum or traveling across the country. He had a childhood just like every other person. He grew up on the beach with no video games or technology. Just nature and his siblings. This is where his love for the outdoors was born.
“I make it my personal goal to live, laugh, love more,” Ballard said.
Although Ballard’s summer isn’t just an extended vacation; it’s also a time for financial catch up. Balancing a second job with his love for the outdoors highlights the reality many educators face: the work doesn’t truly stop when the school year ends.
In summer, Mr. Williams tries to focus a little extra on something he values very much in life, time.
“I like to spend as much time as possible with my family because I know that my time with them is starting to get short,” Williams said.
He also likes to barbecue, read, golf, and spend time on the lake.
“I am a voracious consumer of information. I like to read books and articles about nutrition, health, sports, and other things,” Williams said.
Teachers are not just people that sit in a box room all day and night grading, lecturing, drinking coffee, and then repeating the same thing over and over. They have their own lives that they balance with their job just as students balance their personal lives with school. Teachers go home, they might have to cook dinner, take a kid to practice, some might even coach a practice.
“In school we just keep to ourselves and we don’t talk a lot but outside of school we are really close and talk all the time,” Katie Nave, Mrs. Nave’s daughter said, “She’s a lot more extroverted outside school and she loves to watch the sports me and my brother play, going to the lake, and tanning.”
So next time you see one of your teachers out by the lake or even just in your local grocery store aisle, don’t make it awkward and turn the other way, wave because they are people to after all.
