Epiphany leads to fulfilling career

My parents, sister and grandparents (on my mother’s side) were teachers. As I grew up, it was challenging for me to picture a life that did not begin in September and end in June. In fact, the calendar year was far less significant to me than the school calendar.

When I went to university in Washington state, I wanted to explore the world outside of education: business, economics, politics — whatever — so long as I was not following in my family’s footsteps. At graduation, my fiancé and I traveled (as many do) the long road north. We had never spent time in Alaska; however, we knew we wanted something different than Washington’s “urban-scape.” Staying true to the classic story, we traveled the highway with all of our possessions in the back of a station wagon.

Once we arrived in Alaska, the reality of starting a life from nothing began to set in. We found ourselves stressed as we searched for both new jobs and new community.

In a matter of weeks, we found our community. People we barely knew quickly treated us as family — inviting us into their homes for events such as Thanksgiving. The community and blurred lines between friends and family in Alaska become one of the first reasons we chose to stay.

My fiancé found great work quite quickly. While she worked, I spent my days trying to figure out what someone with a bachelor’s in political science actually does for work. It wasn’t until I began writing my résumé that I noticed a pattern.

My high school job was to teach swimming lessons to all age groups. It was a job that paid well and was engaging and fun. In college, I was a snowboard instructor during the winter and spent a spring teaching sixth-graders about forest ecology. Looking back, all of these jobs had immensely positive associations in my memory and I began to have an epiphany.

Needless to say, I joined the school district as a substitute. While at Colony Middle School, I met a teacher that would prove to greatly influence the rest of my life. He began to tell me of his passion for education. He described to me the feeling of watching students internalize a project or new ideas. It was the possibility of creating something for students, and having them make it their own that pulled me into education. I had never thought of teaching as anything beyond trying to keep 35 students as quiet as possible for 55 minutes at a time.

Now, as I teach seventh-grade math at Wasilla Middle School, I get to experience what the teacher from Colony Middle had told me. There really is nothing as energizing as watching students think and internalize new ideas and perspectives. I am fortunate to work in such an exciting field. I am fortunate to leave work more energized than when I started. And I find myself quite fortunate to be finding friends and family in our community.

Jeffrey D. Blackburm teaches seventh-grade math at Wasilla Middle School.