By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
One of USD 305's newest teachers, River Weaverling, began his first year as the industrial tech teacher at his alma mater, Lakewood Middle School.
Salina Public Schools USD 305 is Weaverling's home district, where he attended the district's schools throughout his K-12 education.
Weaverling studied to teach history at Bethany College and finished student teaching in a history class during the spring semester this year at Salina South Middle School.
Ultimately, he decided to take an opportunity in a tech class at the middle school he attended for his first year of teaching.
"I get to see familiar faces," Weaverling said. "It's been nice to have some friends in the building already coming in and kind of knowing the layout of the building."
Some of Weaverling's previous jobs dealt with industrial tools like drill presses, hand drills and table saws, so he had the experience to begin achieving his Career and Technical Education certificate while teaching at Lakewood Middle.
Middle school industrial tech courses teach students to use machinery alongside essential safety practices when using powerful equipment.
Weaverling said he enjoyed teaching history class, but he wanted to stay in his hometown to spend his first years teaching, and Lakewood provided him with the opportunity.
Most core classes like history, science and math require more structure due to the curriculum requirements, but elective courses allow more flexibility for Weaverling and his students.
"In a class like this where it's loose in structure, the kids seem to enjoy having it more than they maybe would in a history class, so I like that," Weaverling said.
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Drawn to making an impact
Weaverling attended a First Tee class in Salina growing up and became a coach in the program after graduation, where he found his passion in working with children's programs and teaching.
A quote by American singer and motivational speaker Jana Stanfield inspired Weaverling's goal as a first-year teacher.
"'You can't bring all the good that the world needs, but the world needs all the good you can bring.' And I think that this is the best outlet I found to actually do that," Weaverling said.
Another goal he has is to learn and use better classroom management, which is the set routines and procedures for students to expect when they walk into his classroom.
During student teaching, the teacher has already set up classroom management, so it's a skill that Weaverling said he is still getting better at.
Ultimately, Weaverling said he wants to leave a positive impact on his students, inspiring them to try new things and work toward goals.
"Something that I really enjoy about teaching is seeing the look on a student's face when they did something they didn't think they could do," Weaverling said. "It's awesome to see that look of amazement, like, 'Oh, I actually can do it."