At Southeast of Saline (SES), we have three teachers that are very well known throughout our community. Together, those three have combined to have taught for one-hundred years at SES. Teaching at SES for the longest time is Mr. Scott Emme. He began working at the school in the fall of 1981 and has recorded 44 years of teaching. On top of teaching, he would later pick up the position as assistant high school track and field coach. Mr. Emme stepped into his position as the woodshop teacher in quite a hurry. He said that the previous woodshop teacher had quit in August due to health issues, and he saw woodshop classes as a whole at SES about to vanish. Following this, he had an interview for the job on a Saturday, was hired on that same Saturday, and then reported for work the following Wednesday. He explained that he spent the following Sunday and Monday looking for apartments, and after finding one, he moved into it on Tuesday. The next day, he headed for his first day of what would be the next 44 years of his life.

 A few years later, another teacher was hired that would be at SES for the next 39 years. Mr. Todd Baird was hired in 1985, and the rest is history. When Mr. Baird had the interview in 1985, it wasn’t as eventful as Mr. Emme’s, but he got the job and became very involved in extracurricular activities. Throughout all of Mr. Baird’s years, he has held several titles: assistant football coach, head softball coach, assistant baseball coach, high school boys and girls assistant basketball coach, and junior high girls head and assistant basketball coach. Three years later, the third teacher in this infamous group, was hired in 1988: Mr. Terry Anderson. He has been teaching at SES for 36 years with teacher experience prior to that. Mr. Anderson had taught for five years at Cedar Vale, which is in South Central, Kansas and about eight miles from Oklahoma, but he had wanted to live closer to his family. His grandparents lived in Abilene, and his parents were moving to Salina, so he started applying to schools in the Salina area. Mr. Anderson has become very involved during his time at SES sponsoring clubs such as STUCO, TRUST, forensics, the junior and senior class sponsor, and the junior high scholars bowl team for a brief period. As well as leading the all school plays. All three of these teachers said that being a teacher was their first career choice but each of them had their own reasons why. Mr. Emme stated he strives to make a difference in kids’ lives and the kids are his favorite part about SES. Mr. Baird said that he did some tutoring in high school to help his classmates, and he thought it would be a very rewarding profession. His favorite thing about SES is the comradery of the staff and the good work ethic of the students. Mr. Anderson described his desire for teaching as a calling and he knew that he wanted to be a teacher. His favorite thing about SES is the people. 

Teaching has its ups and downs, and these three know that. Mr. Baird and Mr. Anderson had similar opinions when it came to the easiest and hardest parts of teaching. They both said the easiest part is wanting to be at school and be with the students. The most challenging part to them is grading everything they assign. Mr. Emme had his own response when it came to these questions. Mr. Emme said that helping the students that truly want to learn is the easiest part of his job. When it comes to the biggest challenge he faces as an educator is helping someone who is unwilling to learn how to truly succeed in the classroom. As these three close in on retirement, they have a few words of advice for first-year teachers. Mr. Emme said, “You don’t teach a subject, you teach the kids in your room at any given time.” Mr. Baird’s words of advice were, “Make sure it is what you want to do.” Wrapping it up, Mr. Anderson stated, “Don’t give up after your first year because that will be your worst year. Also make sure that you have enough to fill up your entire class period, meaning lesson and content. Free time is when problems occur.” Following retirement, Mr. Emme’s plans are to re-explore his own creative avenues in terms of building furniture or turning and carving art. Mr. Baird’s plans are to work somewhere else, right now his plan is to be a para. Mr. Anderson has similar plans which are to be a substitute teacher or to work in retail. He said he does not want to sit around and do nothing throughout his retirement so he plans to fill his time. 

Mr. Emme, Mr. Baird, and Mr. Anderson have put in great amounts of their time and energy into the students and community of SES. They have impacted countless numbers of students and made a difference inside and outside of the classroom. One-hundred combined years later at SES, and we are lucky to have them.