On the second floor of the SILC building, construction teacher Steve Bethke prepares for his last semester of teaching. Bethke has been teaching for 10 years, and taught Careers in Construction at Manitou Springs Middle School for five and he plans to retire at the end of this year.
Before teaching, Bethke explored many other careers across many fields. “I was an investment counsellor and I was a plumber and I was a pilot in the Navy,” Bethke said.
Bethke’s journey to becoming a teacher was a long one and along the way he experienced many different professions. “I was an investment counsellor and all I was doing was making rich people really rich, and I found no satisfaction out of that. And so then I thought I could work with young people because my last job in the Navy was working with young people. So I started substituting and then next thing you know, I was a science teacher and now I’m a construction teacher,” Bethke said.
Before teaching at MSMS, Bethke taught at a Title I school and took pride in helping students get more opportunities and start new things like robotics. “I got huge satisfaction out of helping people who might have not been getting a ton of opportunities and helping them get those opportunities,” Bethke said. “I formed an FTC team. We went to a competition. We competed and won.”
After retiring, Bethke intends to explore the U.S. with his family in an RV. “I love teaching, but if my wife and I and Barkley are going to jump into the RV and drive to Key West, I can’t do it and teach. So I’m going to go do something else,” Bethke said.
One of Bethke’s favorite things about teaching is getting to know the kids he teaches. “They’re not what I expected because I went to school a long time ago,” Bethke said, “But I really enjoy working with the students here, just trying to pique their interests.”
Even as he reaches the end of his career, Bethke is still trying new things. Last year he helped with the middle school play. “That was actually really fun. Which kind of makes me wish when I was a kid in school I would have been one of those theater people,” Bethke said.
One of the things that Bethke has most enjoyed teaching is Leadership. Leadership is a class in MSMS that acts as a student council. They handle things from school dances to morning announcements. “I was super excited about being able to watch kids do public speaking announcements so I could watch the kids improve,” Bethke said, “And I’m optimistic that everybody can have this. Everybody can change. Don’t like where you are? Choose to do something else.”
Lily Jacobson(9) expressed gratitude for his impact. “I’m sure he’s impacted a lot of other kids’ lives other than ours and he cares so much about them,” Jacobson said.
Amberlin Lawson is a freshman at Manitou Springs High School who had Bethke as a teacher many times throughout her middle school career. “It was probably the most fun teacher I’ve ever had. And he was just honestly such a caring teacher. He was always there for me. I think everyone should have him as a teacher,” Lawson said. “It was just a really good learning experience.”
Emelia McCollough(9) also expressed gratitude to Bethke and hopes to see him again in the future. “It’s super sad that he’s leaving as a permanent teacher, but I think his plan is to become a substitute and if that is the case, that is super good news for me because he very well could be teaching me again. So that would be awesome,” McCollough said. “I really loved his class and I love him as a teacher. He’s super uplifting and a really nice guy and he cares about his students and it’s just always a fun time in his class.”
Bethke encourages his students to try everything that they are interested in and to not quit or give up. “However you do it, don’t give up. Just don’t quit,” Bethke said, “because if you quit anything, it becomes easy to quit everything.”
