Teacher

Drama instructor Great Bend High School

BY SUSAN THACKER sthacker@gbtribune.com

Q: Why did you become a teacher?

A: I really liked high school and I thought it’d be really fun to stay. And I like teenagers –teenagers are kind of my thing. Theater wasn’t something that I really wanted to do as a profession, because of family, so I decided teaching would be the next best thing. When I went into the teaching field, I noticed how much I really loved being there and love the kids. When I was in high school, Dan Heath was my teacher and he seemed to love what he did and loved his job. I thought I could do that and it would be really fun. And that is the case; I love every minute of it.

Q: Did you always want to be a teacher?

A: No. I wanted to be a vet for a while, but that entailed a lot of math and I was not a math person. I also didn’t like the death part of being a vet, and so I decided that wasn’t for me. So I switched to teaching.

Q: What classes do you teach?

A: I teach stagecraft, theater basics and advanced theater.

Q: How do you inspire students in and out of the classroom?

A: I do a lot outside of the classroom because of theater. I treat them exactly like I do my family. We’re all just our own big huge family of theater people. A lot of them call me “Mom.” A lot of the students don’t really have family at home so they get it here. That would be my way of inspiring them.

Q: What are your pastimes outside of school?

A: School is my pastime – I mean theater. I am on the board at the Crest Theater and I direct the children’s play for the Great Bend Rec Center over the summer. Other than that, family is my pastime.

Q: What is you favorite quote or something you say all the time?

A: “It’ll buff.” That’s what I say all the time to anything; if the play isn’t going the way we want or if someone doesn’t know their line or something goes wrong, I say, “It’ll buff,” and then we move on. We’ll get through it and it will happen. It might not be happening right now, but it will be okay. The show must go on.