Teachers, like students, take seasonal jobs in summer

Students aren&#x2019;t the only ones who enjoy a change of pace with summer vacation.</p><p> Teachers, too, hold summer jobs in settings far different from the classroom &#x2014; in gardens, offices, camps, concession stands.</p><p> When school&#x2019;s not in session, the teachers who turn texts into tests magically make table-ready tomatoes appear, turn overgrown grass into a well-manicured lawn and transform volunteers into skilled salesclerks. </p><p><strong>Read their stories beginning on Page 6.</strong></p><p><strong><span class="subhead">James Leek</span></strong></p><p> For James Leek, a high-tunnel greenhouse is a summer retreat from the classroom at Shawnee Mission South High School, where he teaches Latin and world literature.</p><p> The greenhouse is in the backyard of his home in Olathe.</p><p> School wasn&#x2019;t out yet when Leek was planting tomatoes in April. In June, the plants were already 6 feet tall.</p><p> Leek enjoys an extended growing season within the sun-warmed plastic walls of the greenhouse, where plants are protected from the elements and the appetites of wildlife. Plants flourish with his organic fertilizer, and pesticides aren&#x2019;t necessary.</p><p> This is the second summer that Leek and his son have grown, packaged and sold broccoli, cucumbers, green beans, garlic, dill and other fresh vegetables and herbs to stores. </p><p>&#x201C;Rachel&#x2019;s Gardens&#x201D; is the label on their bags of produce. </p><p> The gardens honor the memory of Leek&#x2019;s daughter, Rachel, who was killed in 2009 by a hit-and-run driver while she was riding her bicycle in Lawrence.</p><p>&#x201C;Rachel was a down-to-earth person who loved nature,&#x201D; Leek said.</p><p> Leek shares that love of nature in his greenhouse and in the schoolhouse as well.</p><p>&#x201C;A lot of lyric poetry is about nature,&#x201D; he said.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Jim Hanway</span></strong></p><p> For some teachers, the summer work world is a lot like their life in academia: They practice what they teach.</p><p> Jim Hanway, for example, uses the same skills on his summer job as he does in the classroom.</p><p> Hanway teaches heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration at the Northland Career Center in Platte City. </p><p> This summer, he is working as a maintenance mechanic at Heartland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph. He keeps the heating and cooling equipment running at the hospital, and he helps train new employees.</p><p> &#x201C;This keeps me connected with the industry and will make me a better teacher,&#x201D; Hanway said.</p><p> Hanway worked full time at the medical center for 15 years. He began teaching at the career center in July 2010. High school juniors and seniors from nearby school districts can enroll at the Northland Career Center part time during the school year to learn a trade.</p><p> Hanway didn&#x2019;t leave his students completely when he turned in their final grades. In June, he acted as adviser to those who participated in the SkillsUSA national contest in Kansas City.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Shawna Powell</span></strong></p><p> Spring, summer, winter and fall, Shawna Powell is in food service. But depending on the season, her work is at school, at the racetrack and in her business.</p><p> During the school year, Powell feeds 750 students a day as the cafe manager at Lakeview Middle School in the Park Hill School District. </p><p> On summer weekends, she feeds hundreds of hungry racing fans as the concessions manager at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. Powell trains and supervises cashiers, cooks and ticket sellers at five stands.</p><p> The skills are the same, but the menus are different, Powell said.</p><p> Speedway enthusiasts prefer hot dogs, hamburgers, corn dogs and spicy chicken. Students like chicken nuggets, pizza, and ham and cheese roll-ups.</p><p> Working at the racetrack, Powell said, helps her keep in touch with food trends and improve her communication skills with staff.</p><p>&#x201C;I retrain a new group of people every week,&#x201D; she said. &#x201C;I work with a variety of people with different personalities.&#x201D;</p><p> When Powell isn&#x2019;t supervising other cooks, she&#x2019;s fixing food herself for a catering business she co-owns, Pit Stop Catering. The business caters to crowds at fairs, festivals, graduations, holiday parties and other events.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Mark Armato</span></strong></p><p> Mark Armato&#x2019;s summer job takes him outdoors and into other people&#x2019;s yards.</p><p> Armato mows lawns and cleans and seals decks.</p><p> During the school year, he teaches social studies to eighth-graders at Maple Park Middle School in the North Kansas City School District.</p><p> Instant gratification is what he gets from the seasonal work.</p><p>&#x201C;Mowing makes order out of chaos,&#x201D; he said. &#x201C;There&#x2019;s a tangible result that I can see at the end.&#x201D;</p><p> Teaching has its daily rewards, too, but official student progress is charted over the course of an academic year.</p><p> Armato has been with the North Kansas City district for 31 years. Summer gives him the opportunity to use more physical skills.</p><p> &#x201C;It&#x2019;s nice to do something dramatically different from the classroom,&#x201D; Armato said. &#x201C;I go back refreshed.&#x201D;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Karen Troeh</span></strong></p><p> One of Armato&#x2019;s colleagues at Maple Park, Karen Troeh, works as a graphic artist and performer at the Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs.</p><p> During the summer, Troeh designs the festival poster, program brochure, ads and banners for Web pages. </p><p>&#x201C;This job gives me a chance to do the visual arts,&#x201D; Troeh said.</p><p> The performing arts are what she does at Maple Park, where she is the vocal music teacher.</p><p> When the Renaissance Festival opens on Labor Day weekend, Troeh performs in costume on the grounds.</p><p> Seventeen years ago, Troeh first appeared as a singing nun. Since then, her roles have included a lady-in-waiting, a Gypsy, Mother Nature, the king&#x2019;s sister and, this year, Princess Elizabeth.</p><p> One thing her varied characters have all had in common is an ability to keep several balls or clubs in the air. Troeh learned how to juggle when she was a student at Northwest Missouri State University. </p><p> At the festival, she often juggles clubs with court jugglers &#x2014; defiantly so, because the king frowns on such unwomanly conduct.</p><p> She also sings. At the all-princess tea this year, the characters will sing an original composition by Troeh, &#x201C;A Princess is as a Princess Does.&#x201D; At the queen&#x2019;s tea, Troeh plays the harp and sings.</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Kaye Cummings</span></strong></p><p> Working alongside Troeh in the office of the Renaissance Festival is Kaye Cummings, coordinator of seasonal personnel.</p><p> Cummings hires and trains 150 workers to staff 50 food, beverage, T-shirt and gift carts and booths during the festival&#x2019;s seven-weekend run.</p><p> The authoritarian voice she&#x2019;s acquired from more than 30 years of teaching serves her well. </p><p> During the festival in the fall, Cummings is out walking 14 miles a day as she covers the grounds making sure workers are doing what they were hired to do, regardless of weather, wasps or power outages. </p><p> She also makes sure that others aren&#x2019;t doing what they&#x2019;re not supposed to do.</p><p>&#x201C;I&#x2019;ve broken up a fight between 10-year-olds,&#x201D; Cummings said.</p><p> Her goal, she said, is to see &#x201C;that people come out here, feel safe and have a good time.&#x201D;</p><p> This is her 25th year at the festival and her 10th year with the Turner Unified School District in Wyandotte County, where she teaches special education for middle- and high-school students.</p><p>&#x201C;This is a nice break from what I do during the school year,&#x201D; Cummings said. &#x201C;It makes me appreciate both jobs.&#x201D;</p><p><strong><span class="subhead">Adam Nelson</span></strong></p><p> Another special education teacher, Adam Nelson, works at a children&#x2019;s camp when he&#x2019;s not working with students at Pathfinder Elementary School and Barry School in the Platte County R-3 School District.</p><p> Nelson is the co-director of Camp Quality in Stewartsville, Mo. The camp serves youth from 4 to 17 years old who have been diagnosed with cancer.</p><p> Nelson began working for the camp in 1998 after he graduated from Cameron High School, where he was involved with Future Teachers of America and the Special Olympics.</p><p> Camp Quality was a good fit.</p><p>&#x201C;I always liked working with kids,&#x201D; Nelson said. &#x201C;And I knew I wanted to be a teacher.&#x201D;</p><p> There are 15 Camp Quality sites nationwide. The northwest Missouri location is one of four in the state.</p><p> In June, children spent a week at the camp away from hospitals, doctors, blood tests, transfusions and other necessary treatments to experience the carefree joys of childhood. </p><p> Campers are guests. There is no charge to the families.</p><p> And that&#x2019;s part of Nelson&#x2019;s job as a co-director &#x2014; to raise money to keep the camp open.</p><p> He said the fun part of his job is the week spent with the campers as they sing songs, make crafts, take field trips, fish, canoe and play.</p><p> &#x201C;I get to be childlike,&#x201D; he said.</p><p> Nelson said he used many of the same teaching skills at camp that he did at school but without the day-to-day demands of academic assessments and paperwork.</p><p>&#x201C;In both jobs, what I&#x2019;m doing is for the kids, to make their lives better,&#x201D; Nelson said.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS KANSAS INDUCTS TWO ATHLETES INTO ... - The Link Story

SPECIAL OLYMPICS KANSAS

SPECIAL OLYMPICS KANSAS INDUCTS TWO ATHLETES INTO HALL OF FAME

MISSION, KS- At the 41st annual Summer Games, two outstanding athletes were inducted into the Special Olympics Kansas Hall of Fame. Herman D. Lammers Jr. and Scott Ball were presented with these awards on June 3rd at the opening ceremonies in Cessna stadium in Wichita.

Herman D. Lammers Jr. is a 64 year old athlete from the Lakemary STARS in Paola and has been actively participating in Special Olympics for over 25 years. He is a year-round participant competing in eight sports and practicing well over the weekly two hour practices. He walks daily, does stretching exercises and takes aerobics and yoga classes. He is always positive, helpful and thoughtful towards others.

The second inductee was Scott Ball, a 33 year old from New Hope Bulldogs of Pittsburg. He has been participating in Special Olympics for 17 years, and competes in 12 sports. Scott is an extremely dedicated athlete, logging in 321 hours of training in this past year alone and never missing a practice or an event in 10 years. Special Olympics has benefited him by boosting his confidence and helping him lose 25 pounds this year.

An induction into Special Olympics Kansas Hall of Fame takes more than just a gold medal. The criteria for selection focuses on the number of years the athlete has competed, the athlete's overall attitude toward the program, sportsmanship, the number of hours spent training and the benefit of athlete's participation to him or her. These very important athletes deserve to be recognized for their personal and athletic accomplishments.

Special Olympics is the world's largest program of quality sports training, education and competition for children and athletes with intellectual disabilities. In Kansas, 5489 athletes train year round and compete in 21 different sports. Special Olympics provides athletes with the opportunity to improve their physical fitness, acquire new skills, develop lifelong friendships and encourage widespread community understanding and acceptance. For more information, please visit www.ksso.org

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(CONTACT: Donna Zimmerman, ph. 913.236.9290 x112; pr@ksso.

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