Thursday, June 5, 2008 2:29 PM CDT
Teacher retiring, but not giving up 'adventure'
By NATHANIEL WEST, Staff Writer
nwest@jg-tc.com
MATTOON — Although she may begin a new enterprise teaching German to high school students, middle school speech and career teacher Dorothy Louise Stoeppelwerth Swartzbaugh is saying “auf wiedersehen” to the Mattoon school district.
Swartzbaugh retires this year after more than 36 years in education, including almost three decades at Mattoon Middle School.
“I will miss constant learning and an audience,” she said. “Teaching is always a challenge; every day is different. I will miss the students, the parents, the teachers and the administrators — they were my teachers.”
Swartzbaugh majored in history and German at Valparaiso (Ind.) University, graduating in 1961. She also studied German at the University of Freiburg and the University of Tuebingen in Germany.
She earned certification from Eastern Illinois University as a specialist in education administration, and received a doctorate in German and comparative literature from the University of Illinois.
Swartzbaugh began her teaching career in Wheeler, Ind., as a teacher of German, history and economics at the high school level in 1962. That summer, she was a secretary for the Peace Corps in Washington, D.C.
She worked at Hamilton Township Middle and High School in Columbus, Ohio, and taught at universities in Kentucky and Mississippi.
For 28 years, Swartzbaugh has been at MMS, teaching such subjects as German, enrichment, language arts, history, reading, speech and careers.
She received a leave of absence in 2001-2002 to work in Germany at the Berlitz schools and kids camps, teaching English to German students. Swartzbaugh also served as an adjunct assistant professor for a teachers’ education course at EIU from 1998 to 2001.
She said rewarding experiences include: Chaperoning the “People to People” tour to Europe for high school students in 1988; serving as the gifted director at the former Mattoon Junior High School from 1983 to 1988; appearing in “Who’s Who” six times; directing the Summer College for Kids at Lake Land College for three years; being the keynote speaker for the National Honor Society at Mattoon High School in 1998; and about 40 different presentations over the years at conferences, schools and meetings.
Like other longtime teachers, Swartzbaugh said she has enjoyed teaching the children of former students. “I taught students who then became parents of the current students — two generations of learners,” she said.
Swartzbaugh also learned from her students. “Speech students, especially, made me understand the generation of new students: what they said, what they felt and understood,” she said. “I tried to listen carefully.”
Swartzbaugh and her husband, Richard Grey, have four adult children, all of whom speak German: Alfred “Alfie” Swartzbaugh and fiancee Barbara Ritzhaupt; R. Andrew Swartzbaugh and wife Barbara Warwick; Anne Anderson and husband B.J.; and Fritz Swartzbaugh. The Swartzbaughs also have a granddaughter, Larissa Dorothea Swartzbaugh.
Swartzbaugh’s retirement plans entail travel and recreation abroad.
“I will enjoy the free time for a while, then I will think of something else,” she said.
“Adventure is in my blood. Most summers I go to Germany for a month and enjoy long bicycle rides and beautiful sights with my husband, three sons and daughter, (their) spouses and granddaughter. I ride a tandem (bicycle) on the back end and hope to keep on riding a long time.”
And there is a “chance” she will find work teaching the German language to high school students somewhere else, Swartzbaugh said.
“It would be wonderful to have begun my career with German and then end teaching German,” she said.
Contact Nathaniel West at nwest@jg-tc.com or 238-6860.
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Eduk8r wrote on Jun 5, 2008 1:14 PM:
I will forever remember her Enrichment class, her work with Summer College for Kids at LLC, her kind words upon my high school graduation, and a certain special version of "My Hat It Has Three Corners."
Best of Luck and Happy Retirement, Dorothy!
Jay Mann "