One Chance at a time

The father-son duo also play in the same co-ed soccer league in Hood River.

Daughter Jill, the baby of the family, is a teacher in White Salmon and also a member of the team.

“I tell my kids that if they play on my team every year, I’ll pay their fee,” explained Steve of their participation.

Oldest son Daniel, an engineer, is the only family member to live outside the area. Son David works in retail and shares a house with Jill and younger brother, Tim, in Hood River.

Steve’s wife and mother of the clan, Jeannie, is a speech pathologist at a Hood River elementary school.

A favorite family pastime is watching University of Oregon games. Tim and Jill are both Ducks, and Daniel’s girlfriend, Stina Mitchell, bought everyone in the family “Duck” pajamas splashed with green and gold.

Even though Steve and Tim get along well, no one should

assume the son is just a “chip off the ol’ block.”

Tim studies philosophy, while Steve is a history buff.

Tim tends to be quiet with a relaxed personality; the opposite of dad, who is high-energy and, well, tells tall tales to his students.

“He tells them he’s 90 and they come over and start asking me if that’s true,” said Tim, who is sworn to secrecy.

“I tease a lot,” said Steve. “Every teacher constantly gets asked how old they are and I got tired of answering that question so I added 30 years to my age.”

One student said his grandfather looked much older than Steve but was only 63, so he was amazed at the teacher’s longevity.

“I tell them that I stay active because that keeps me young,” said Steve. “When they challenge me, I tell them that I was born in 1926 — do the math! They crunch numbers and then blurt out that I’m right.” He said a lot of students wait until the last day of school and then ask him to tell the truth so he knows they are keeping track.

One time the mother of a student who knew Jeannie ended up telling her son Steve’s true age, but that hasn’t happened very often. When confronted by the student about this truth, Steve didn’t even hesitate to tell the next fib.

“I said that my wife told people that I was younger because she was embarrassed about marrying someone so much older,” he said.

Tim said his father’s sense of humor and ability to engage students in lessons “out of the box” makes him a great teacher.

For example, Steve had students clip the Memorial Day ads in The Dalles Chronicle and plan a picnic for 14 people of varied ages. The lesson involved making a spreadsheet to track costs and doing fractions to figure out servings. See related story.

“It’s entertaining. He’s really helpful and I’m fortunate to start out like this,” said Tim, 28.

Steve likes to keep his mind busy, so he listens to books on tape while commuting every day from Hood River.

His most recent tutorial is the “Joy of Science,” which explores the origins of the universe and the workings of cells and chemistry.

“It is just fascinating,” he said, planning to delve into the Civil War next.

After filling a management role in retail for 23 years, Steve decided in 1995 to return to school for his teaching credentials.

“I thought it would be more fun,” he said.

Tim has learned a lot from watching dad teach children with varied skill sets, no small feat when class sizes can swell to 34 students.

“I think his teasing helps him connect with the kids; they love him. He is very productive and has all these systems down,” said Tim.

Having a rapport with students is essential before real learning can begin, said Steve.

“Teaching is a lot like coaching in that kids will work really hard for you when they know that you care for them,” he said.

Helping students reach their full potential is an enormous responsibility, one that Steve has taken very seriously.

He is glad to see that same level of commitment in Tim, who had originally set out to study economics.

“Tim is really even-tempered; he’s a soft-spoken kind of guy who really likes the kids — and they pick up on that,” he said. “When he gets into something he’s very focused.”

For example, Steve, who coached many of his children’s teams, said Tim became a state freestyle swimming champion when he was 9, beating out 10-year-olds for the title.

The next season, Tim would have returned as the defending champion but, instead, he opted to become a rookie at the game of soccer.

“I said, ‘I just don’t want you to be disappointed,’ and he said, ‘Well, dad, I already did that, now I want to do something else,’” said Steve.

Tim did well in soccer before deciding, in his sophomore year of high school, to get into football, and became part of the varsity team as a junior.

“Tim likes to jump out there and try new things,” said Steve.

He credits Jeannie’s influence for the fact that Tim was co-valedictorian of his graduating class, as was Daniel.

“They take after their mother,” he said.

How have teaching challenges changed over the years? Steve believes the attention now placed on testing and the added focus on evaluating educators reduces classroom learning time.

He said many students are also experiencing trauma at home, such as split families and poverty, which makes it more difficult for them to focus on lesson plans.

“We want to address that as teachers,” he said. “If you get those things patched up a bit their academic growth becomes a lot more realistic.”

He thinks the message that studying pays off was demonstrated this year when seniors from the graduating class of 2016 walked through the halls of Colonel Wright, where they had once attended, in their caps and gowns.

“Everyone was applauding and my students were thrilled,” he said.

If the community can rally around schools and provide those types of moments, as well as the resources students need, then teachers are better equipped to help the leaders of tomorrow meet increasingly complex challenges.

“This is really a community thing,” said Steve. “We all need to work together.”

His reward for doing a good job is more than earning a paycheck; it is having former students check in to tell him about their achievements.

One of these young adults is Luke Conklin, who is now headed to medical school.

“It’s kind of cool to know that one of your students is going to be a doctor,” said Steve.

He and Tim plan to spend Father’s Day as they usually do — together with the family in some kind of activity, or doing nothing at all.