Emilie Kushner
Senior Editor
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAoFh68pHD8
For new students and freshman alike, getting school schedules can look like a bunch of names that mean nothing. Even seniors haven’t met all of the 113 teachers in their four years at NCHS… and even if you know a teacher’s name or what they look like, do you really know them? Stephen Vehslage may be a name you have never heard. He teaches American Law and AP US Government and Politics.
What inspired you to become a teacher?
It was a long, complicated road. I was a lawyer before I was a teacher and I was practicing law, and I always had being a teacher as kind of a fancy other life, but I was also drawn by being a lawyer but the longer I was a lawyer the more I began to have angst about my life’s purpose and whether I’d made the right choice, ultimately pulled the plug, went back to school and became a teacher – drawn by the mission, I guess. There were days when I would go home as a lawyer where I wasn’t sure that my work was being put to good use – I never have that feeling as a teacher. There are good days and bad days but I never doubt the underlying mission.
Did you grow up thinking you would be a teacher?
I didn’t. I toyed with it coming out of college but was more drawn by the world of being a lawyer and the money. But no, it wasn’t really a thought until the tail end of my college life and even then I was probably leaning more toward getting a doctorate and teaching in college.
Why do you like teaching what you teach?
Mostly the give and take with the kids. I get a kick out of the subject matter because it’s the relevance of it becomes pretty clear to students right out of the gate because when they go home and turn the television on theres stuff thats related to what we’re doing in class. So I like the immediacy of it. I get a big kick out of watching kids minds kind of switch on. I’m not a huge fan of the grading but pretty much everything else I enjoy.
What do you hope your students get from having you as a teacher?
[There are a] thousand things I want my students to get out of it. Starting from the most general down to the specific, [with]the most general I’d like to just flip the switch and make sure that they’re engaged and switched on and curious and their pores are wide open. I think that’s sort of project number one and then from there there’s a whole set of skill sets that I want them to work on from presentation to writing to just developing critical thinking skills – how to study, how to be a student and to find joy in learning and life of the mind.
You mostly teach seniors. What’s that like?
I love teaching seniors. There are some potential downsides I guess, given that they’re all applying to college so that there’s some added stress and pressure in there and then there’s the added stress that comes with getting into college and not being as motivated as they otherwise might. But by and large students stay with me and work through the years. But I like the engagement and the stage of development of seniors. I like them.
How long have you been teaching here?
Twelve years.
Who’s your best friend at the school?
Mr. Webb.
What was it like being asked again to be the commencement speaker?
Hugely gratifying and slightly terrifying *laughs* speaking in front of over a thousand people is always a little unnerving but to be selected was a huge honor, I appreciate it.
What are you passionate about?
Much of my time is devoted to being dad which ranges from helping them with life to driving them around and outside of my kids: photography, guitar, I play a lot of tennis. I mix it up.
If you could go back in history and relive one moment what would it be?
If I could relive moment, I guess I would go to the big ones – birth of children, marriage – those would be the critical landmarks. In history, that’s a much more complicated question. I’m not sure – I guess I would anchor at either the founding period of this country and be a fly on the wall at the Constitutional Convention or if I could go back and change things with minor adjustments here and there I guess I would go after the most brutal periods and try to change them in some way so I guess I would try and shift Adolf Hitler’s goals in some way however that might be.
What are some things your students might not know about you?
I don’t know! My father was a national champion in squash, was the best player of his generation and arguably the best player in the world at one time. I did not fully inherit his racket abilities but I can hit a tennis ball okay. Most kids don’t know that I’ve got four kids and lead a pretty full outside life as a result – one going to college, two in ninth grade, and then one in 5th grade. Boy, boy, boy, girl.
Do you see yourself reflected in any of your students?
Sure, little bits and pieces in various kids. I can’t identify one kid that just looks like [and]feels like me, but I see moments in most kids lives that reflect my high school experience and my life experience. So yeah, but not a composite.
So for future students who will be taking American Law or AP Gov, what kind of message do you want to send to them?
Come in ready to have fun, to work hard, and to open your eyes and be hungry and open to new ways of thinking.
