When Jeff Bearinger began his career, he never dreamed he’d be named System Teacher of the Year.
Or that he’d even be a teacher at all.
“I’m 61 years old and this is my third career,” Bearinger said. “...If you would’ve told me 40 years ago as a young aviation mechanic that 40 years from today, you’ll be standing in front of 75 kids teaching construction, I would’ve looked at you like you had rocks in your head. And here I am 40 years later.”
Bearinger was selected as Teacher of the Year for Lumpkin County High School back in May after being nominated and voted on by his fellow teachers. The Teacher of the Year recipients from each school in Lumpkin County were then taken into consideration by independent administrators from other schools to decide who should be named System Teacher of the Year.
“It’s an honor, first to be voted on by my peers,” Bearinger said. “Then to have the independent people choose me, what an honor.”
Bearinger serves as the Construction teacher at LCHS, where he’s known to most as “Mr. B.” Bearinger started his full-time teaching career at LCHS in 2001 as a business teacher, but still remembers the lunchtime conversation when he was asked to take over the construction program.
“I've never worked a day in my life since,” he said. “I mean, interacting with these kids, what an honor. It’s a privilege. I’ve told them many times that the worst day of my life will be when I retire. That day will come, but I’m still having fun.”
‘DEFINING MOMENT’
Bearinger and his family came to Dahlonega in the late 90’s chasing a dream.
“My wife always dreamed of opening a preschool and so we moved up here in 1997 and we built the preschool and opened it up on September 2nd,” he said.
Shortly after the business got up and running, everything changed.
“I got hit by a drunk driver and was nearly killed,” he said. “I spent 19 days in a hospital, 13 weeks in a wheelchair and once I got out...I decided my calling was teaching.”
The moment changed his life forever. Bearinger still carries some disabilities from the accident, but also a story.
“I tell that story to the kids that it was a defining moment,” he said. “You’ll have them in your life, graduations, marriages and births, but you’ll also have times that are not so good and that was a defining moment for me.”
An avid reader, Bearinger’s classroom is covered in sawdust, as well as quotes and sayings, mostly dealing with making wise decisions, many of which are carved or created by students in his shop. Encouraging his students to make safe and smart decisions, whether it’s in his class behind a miter saw or in life behind the wheel of a car, is what called him to teaching.
“The other teachers say I have a lot of patience,” he said of handling teenagers in a room with saws and dangerous tools all day. “I guess I do.”
As for the accident, Bearinger considers himself lucky, as the other driver suffered a severed spine and hasn’t walked since the crash.
“There’s days that I think about that day and I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” he said. “But I went through it and it made me a better man and a better teacher.”
BUILDING UP
Bearinger takes pride in teaching his students useful skills and showing them the why behind the things they learn, such as math. The moment a student understands, he says, is the most fun part of his job.
“Whether it’s a male or female student, seeing the ‘aha’ moments, where they understand the why behind what they’re doing,” he said. “...[and] seeing them build stuff and taking pride in it, it’s why I do what I do.”
Lumpkin superintendent Dr. Rob Brown said these skills will serve his students in the real world.
“Mr. Bearinger teaches skills that will benefit students for the rest of their lives while remaining in the service of others,” Brown said.
Service to others has become a huge part of Bearinger’s classes and also his legacy, as his students engage in multiple community efforts throughout the year. On Tuesday, Bearinger and his students were set to deliver and install a wheelchair ramp they’d built for an elderly member of the community, their 67th of the sort.
“To see the kids and the pride they take in that and helping the community, that’s satisfying knowing that we’ve helped people in our own community,” Bearinger said. “Because when people get elderly, mobility is everything. So we’re helping out the community.”
Other days, students work on building a 1,300 square foot house behind the school, which will, upon completion, be delivered to Habitat for Humanity and become a home for a local family. As his students work on their fourth house since he was granted permission to take on the project, Bearinger recounts how special it is that they get this opportunity.
“When you’re graduating and making your resume, how many kids can say ‘I built a house?’” he said. “We’re one of the very few schools in the nation where you can learn to build a house.”
Bearinger said the project could never happen without Butch Walker, who first helped Bearinger get started with work for the community, his helpers that assist in teaching the students as they work on the house and Mike and Lynn Cottrell, who’ve supported the cause financially after donating a pavilion to ensure weather wouldn’t hinder the students’ work.
“This is how blessed I am and I truly believe the heavenly father was looking out for not only me but the kids and the school, but the Cottrells came back and said…‘We want to be a part of this going forward. We want to sponsor the next nine houses,’” Bearinger said. “So this is the third house they’ve been involved in, with the pavilion and then adding money in, it’s just been a blessing.”
LASTING LEGACY
Bearinger says he hopes his legacy is found in serving both his students and the community well.
“I’ve thought a lot about what my legacy is,” he said. “I want them to understand that I was a teacher who cared and who gave back. That’s what I want my legacy to be, is that everyone in here knew that I cared for them...I’ve been flipped off and called names I can’t repeat, but at the end of the day, they’re a child and I still like them. There’s never been a student that I wouldn’t want in my class...I want to be firm, but I want to be fair with them and for them to know that I care for them. At the end of the day, that’s what matters to me. That’s my legacy is that they know that I cared, we had fun and that we gave back.”
Brown feels that is already the case for Mr. B.
“Whether he is leading efforts to construct another Habitat House or he is building another wheelchair ramp, Mr. Bearinger is hands-on with students teaching them much more than the physical skills needed to build,” he said. “Mr. Bearinger teaches life lessons and is making this community better one project at a time.”
While Bearinger says he’s in the twilight of his career, he’s showing no signs of slowing down, as he still reaches 10,000 steps nearly every day on the job.
“I’m 61, but I’m still having fun,” he said. “I don’t think at 70 I want to still be chasing kids, but I’m having fun and making a difference in kids' lives is the why.”
When asked for advice he could give other teachers, he said the best thing is to make each day memorable for the students.
“If I was going in front of a group, I would say, ‘You came to school, this is your job,’” Bearinger said. “‘What is your legacy going to be? Are you going to be remembered as a class that was boring that the kids couldn’t wait to get out of? Were you clock watching? Were you coming in on Monday and saying you wish it was Friday? That’s not the legacy I want to leave. I want kids to say, Mr. B was fun...All teachers can do that. No matter what you teach.’”