Between teaching, planning, grading, meetings and countless extracurricular reponsibilities, the school year can be grueling for educators.
But for 12 about weeks in the summer, teachers are free. Some use the time for family vacations, swimming and other fun activities. But for others, the choice is continuing to work in other capacities.
Andrew Farmer, 33, of Manhattan, started teaching physical science at Manhattan High School in 2014. When Farmer pursued his degree at Kansas State University, he said he had no plans to have two careers. That changed when he sought new ways to make money for a vehicle he wanted, leading to the launch of TerraScape Lawn Care and Landscaping.
“I picked up a couple of ladies’ yards, and I had like five yards and a push mower out of the back of my truck,” Farmer said. “And it was just to buy a new truck to get money for a truck payment, and then five yards turned into 25 and now turned into our weekly route of around 100 yards all out of this small shed.”
Farmer eventually hired some high schoolers to work at TerraScape. He said having employees allows for more family time, especially now that he quit coaching football at MHS after 2019.
“I was trying to run this and trying to run kids’ schedules and teach and coach — I just couldn’t anymore,” Farmer said about his decision to stop coaching football. “It’s just a beast of a game. Football is long hours. I wouldn’t get home till 8 o’clock at night. By that time I’d get home, my wife already made dinner and I’m eating dinner and the kids are ready to go to bed.”
Junior varsity baseball coach Luke Snyder, 40, of Manhattan, started coaching high school ball about two decades ago, until the American Legion 17ers stopped its program locally, Snyder spent his summers at diamonds all across Kansas. He is a world geography teacher and eighth-grade girls’ basketball coach at Anthony Middle School during the year.
Now that the American Legion program is no more, Snyder has adventured on to different sources of income. He works for his friend’s rental property business. It allows him to travel and stay at home for work, but also grants flexibility for vacations.
“I’ve been working for Complete BnB for the past two years,” Snyder said in a phone interview from his Rapids City, South Dakota, hotel on vacation. “I install software like door locks, cameras and Wi-Fis so that we can manage the properties from all over the United States. Last summer I went to Miami, Phoenix and Dallas and around Kansas. Then I also do maintenance on the homes we have here in town.”
Although he used to coach baseball every summer, Snyder always found time to help wheat harvest in June on a farm outside Beloit. Snyder said he spent a week to 10 days in the field driving combines, working grain carts or driving a truck. However, an environmental crisis prevented him from traveling to the acreage this season.
“This year was the first year in years that they haven’t had a harvest; they’ve been going through droughts throughout that part of the state,” Snyder said. “Their insurance totaled out their wheat crop this year, so I did not have the opportunity to go work on the farm this year. It was disappointing.”
Kathy Meyer, 62, of Manhattan, has worked as a preschool teacher at Eugene Field Early Learning Center for nine years.
Meyer’s niece, Katie Simmons, 34, of Wamego, owns Katie’s Daycare. Simmons welcomed the help from her aunt in the summer months.
“A lot of what we do with teaching I can do at the daycare, like positive reinforcement behavior plans, science activities and we read a lot of books,” Meyer said. “It’s not as formal as teaching. We don’t have to follow a curriculum or an activity. We mostly play, go for walks, play in the water and watch movies. Activities similar to those.”
Meyer said she started helping her niece because otherwise she would get “bored” and needs a routine in her off-time. While many school employees do jobs for extra money, Meyer gets paid with Katie’s technology expertise and food.
“She doesn’t necessarily pay me in cash, but she does a lot of work on my laptop and making bulletin board things and ordering supplies for me,” Meyer said. “Plus, she’s a wonderful cook, and I get leftovers.”
Teachers are employed in a variety of roles during the summer. Farmer said there are “four of five” guys he knows who paint. He is also aware of people who raise horses, run cattle and started their own cookie dough and ice cream trailer.
“I love teaching,” Farmer said. “I wish that for a four- or five-year degree the compensation would be a little bit better, but I get afforded time with my family, and I love the people I work with at the high school.”
