Tom Champion, intervention teacher

TKC: How long have you been at Kirkwood?

TC: 22 years.

TKC: Why did you want to be a teacher?

TC: I started in 1979,  that was my first year teaching and coaching. I started doing both at the college level, and then I went to the high school level and coaching that’s really got it. I went to a college that only had teaching degrees to play soccer. I played soccer, got my teaching degree and then it was a natural fit to go right into teaching and coaching. It was a lot of fun, so I just stayed with it.

TKC: What advice would you give to students right now?

TC: I would just say get into a field where you can actually get a job and enjoy. At least get a job, and second, enjoy. It’s not really critical that you go to college as much as you get into a field with a trade or something that you want to do where you can actually work for a living and have a job all the time. Just don’t waste a lot of money on something that’s not gonna do you any good.

TKC: What’s your coaching philosophy?

TC: It’s the same as teaching: you work hard, have fun trying to just work really hard to get better. And then whatever happens happens after that.

TKC: What’s something you’ll miss most about KHS?

TC: I would just say people you work with. I mean, the students too, but the people you work with, they’re always here with you. Students come and go, and there’s a lot of good kids. You work with the same people for 20 or 30 years.

TKC: Is there anything you’d like to add?

TC: It’s fun working down here. I know that and that’s a lot of people don’t even know where this part of the building is. They don’t have a good understanding of what we actually do here. Other than that, it’s been a long road.