By Kristie Corney, Icon intern
Note: This story was written before the 2010 football season ended.
Playing college football, keeping tabs on 40-plus male university students, teaching high school classes, planning a wedding - all of these things are stressful by themselves. Imagine doing them all at once. Seem crazy? That's just a normal day in the life of Aaron Wladischkin.
Wladischkin, a senior at Bluffton University, was the starting tight end for the Beavers, the resident advisor of third floor Lincoln residence hall, is getting married in January and is a student teacher.
"It can be really hectic, but it keeps me focused. With so much to do, I have to stay on task in order to get things gone," said Wladischkin.
Wladischkin's day starts off at Lima Senior High School. There he teaches high school history and geography. Although it started off as mostly observation and sometimes teaching a lesson here and there, Wladischkin now teaches for most of the day.
His home teacher is not always in the room with him so he can truly get the feel for what it is like to really be a teacher. Although there are ups and downs, Wladischkin really enjoys teaching.
Lunchtime is another part of the day that Wladischkin enjoys because it gives him time to regroup and/or make slight changes for the afternoon classes.
"My biggest challenge comes when I feel like I have prepared a really cool activity for the students and one kid refuses to participate and ruins it for everyone," said Wladischkin.
After the school day is over, it's a rush back to Bluffton in order to miss the least amount of practice as possible. He usually makes it to practice about a half hour after it starts. He still makes it back for most of the individual drills and for the entire team scrimmage that takes place at the end of each practice.
As a senior starter and captain, Wladischkin tries to be an example and to help the younger players out during drills.
"I try to give 100 percent to everything I do so it's important to me that I'm present for as much practice as possible," said Wladischkin.
Nights for Wladischkin are full of a range of things. There are two things that happen without fail. He always has lesson plans and talks on the phone with his fianc'ee, Ashley Kayden, who attends Central Michigan University.
Lesson plans vary from day to day depending on the subject. Reviews take less time to plan while new material takes longer. However, Wladischkin says he usually spends at least an hour making plans for the next day.
If there are tests and papers to grade that also adds to the time. Wladischkin feels that hands-on-learning is important. "I always try to plan lots of activities because they keep the students' attention and are easy to learn from," said Wladischkin.
Although some people would shy away from the amount of responsibility Wladischkin has, he welcomes it. "It may be crazy, but it's my life and I love to live it every day," said Wladischkin.
Kristie Corney, Icon intern, is a student in a featuring writing class at Bluffton University instructed by Mary and Fred Steiner.
