Photo Caption: Zachary Marlow, left, chats with his eighth-grade reading teacher Julia Licht photo by Eric Kiekeben, Sioux City Journal.
SIOUX CITY -- After 30 years at East Middle School, Julia Licht taught her last day at the building on Thursday. Her message to future educators: "Have an open heart," and don't think the adult is always in the right.
Licht never thought she'd become a teacher -- in fact, she said it came as an "accident." While both her parents worked in education, Licht never strongly considered teaching until after receiving her master's degree from Northwestern University.
"I spent the summer in Europe with my friend in the Peace Corps and came back to Chicago and had no job," Licht said. "My mother said, 'There's a job at East Middle -- we're not paying for you to party in Chicago anymore.'"
After coming to East Middle School, Licht would go on to teach numerous subjects, from math and science to social studies and language arts. She has two main endorsements, though, in special education and K-12 reading.
"I think every general education teacher should be a special education teacher before they go into Gen Ed," Licht said. "You have skills that people who haven't done it don't have about kids and how they operate."
Even when the going gets tough for her students, Licht cited numerous examples of helping kids by being a patient, adult figure.
Licht recalled a time where one student and a teacher were constantly fighting, and she told the student to simply own up to his mistakes rather than yelling back. The issue was soon resolved, and Licht said that this was her first "a-ha [moment] about how the adults kind of are the problem most of the time."
Teaching is beyond a career for Licht -- it is a lifestyle. In fostering safe education spaces for her students, Licht has taken away experiences that extend outside of the classroom.
Especially after the Sioux City district introduced its Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, Licht has been diligent in making sure that students who come to school hungry or tired are able to get the food or sleep that they need.
"I don't look at this as a career," Licht said. "I look at this as who my people are, and my people are eighth-graders."
Licht is one of 10 teachers in the Sioux City district with 30 or more years of service who retired. Thursday marked the last day of classes.
Although Licht is leaving East Middle School, she is not retiring altogether. Her next endeavor will be working for Winnebago Public Schools in Nebraska, alongside non-verbal autistic students.
"When I first moved back [to Sioux City], I volunteered in the youth center down there," Licht said. "It's a vibrant place to be 30 years later, and I'm excited to be part of that."
Leaving a work environment after three decades can spark a variety of emotions, but Licht finds peace in reflecting on the work she has done and the impact she has made.
"The best thing you can ever learn for teaching," Licht said, is that "a child needs love most when they deserve it least."
View the full article by Eric Kiekeben on the Sioux City Journal website.