Andy Close
WARREN, Pa. – Beginning a career in teaching can be a daunting task, but doing so during the middle of a pandemic can be downright terrifying.
That was the challenge that first-year teachers faced both in the Warren County School District and throughout the country faced.
Nate Sandberg was one of those teachers. The 2015 Warren Area High School graduate taught high school as well as sixth grade math at Youngsville Middle/High School this year and obviously, there were a lot of things to juggle.
“It was obviously really crazy because you’re not only trying to manage the kids in person, but the kids online at the same time,” Sandberg said. “It was difficult at first to answer the kids’ in-class questions while also wearing a microphone. It was definitely a lot to juggle.”
COVID-19 certainly did present some interesting challenges for teachers. They had to deal with a lot of things they had never dealt with before. But because of that, Sandberg feels that the younger teachers may have actually had an advantage over their veteran colleagues.
“I think that the younger teachers might have had a little easier go of it,” he said. “For the younger teachers, from a technology standpoint, we did adjust well and very quickly to that.”
It was not only the teachers that had to adapt to the policies, but the students as well, and there was certainly a learning curve involved.
“It was a tough adjustment not only for teachers but for students,” noted Sandberg. “Never before have they had to wear masks. And I know I’ve never had to yell at a kid for not wearing his mask right.”
Warren County School District, under the direction of Superintendent Amy Stewart and her staff, managed the pandemic about as well as humanly possible.
“I said over and over again, we have a lot of things going for us,” Stewart said earlier this month. “We have a great board that works great with our administration. We’re in sync, we have trusting relationships. I can’t even imagine if this had been my first year. It’s been a challenge. Did we overcome it? We sure did.”
For his part, Sandbeg concurs.
“I thought we did a fantastic job at Youngsville managing COVID and the kids, especially with all the new faculty,” he said. “The year went pretty smoothly, I thought.”
In addition to COVID, Sandberg had to adapt to being a young teacher as well. In some cases, that’s not easy, as he’s not much older than some of the students he is teachiing.
“I was teaching kids that are five years younger than me,” he said with a laugh. “It was almost awkward at first. But they were a good senior class and I really liked them.”
He also built a bond with fellow first-year Youngsville teacher Ryan Lemay, a Sheffield Area Middle/Senior High School graduate.
“Ryan was the new social studies teacher at Youngsville,” Sandberg noted. “There was someone there my age where we could really relate to each other.”
Through all the adaptations, through all the ups and downs, Sandberg enjoyed his first year teaching.
“For me, there were definitely a lot more positives than negatives,” he said. “I had a lot of fun getting to know the kids, the staff.”
And it helps to be in a place he’s proud to call home.
“I love Warren County,” he said. “It will always have my heart. I was very fortunate to get the job in Youngsville.”
