Utah teachers ready to welcome students back to school

ST. GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) — With summer break officially at its end today, teachers across the state are preparing to welcome students back into the classroom. And for me, it’s a story that hits close to home.

I attended Snow Canyon High School in St. George, where my father, Reed Secrist, is also a health teacher and the baseball coach. The entire faculty is already at work cleaning, organizing and gathering for meetings and making sure everything is ready to go. For my father, it’s a routine he’s been perfecting for 23 years.

“It’s an exciting time,” Reed says. “Especially down here with the weather changing and things like that. Getting back to work is always nice.”

I’ve seen firsthand the work he puts in before the first day of school ever arrives, saying it’s about going over the lesson plans and trying to make them better, and make himself a better teacher.

Of course, even after two decades, there are still a few things that trip him up, like technology. While the tech setup might take a little patience, the excitement for a new school year never does.

“It’s kind of always exciting,” he says. “It’s always something different. There’s not always the same day. I don’t go to my job and [say] ‘man, this always gets boring.’ It’s always something new, whether it’s in the classroom or with athletics. It’s always something new.”

Before becoming a teacher, my dad spent 12 years playing professional baseball. And those years he spent on the field in highly competitive and highly stressful situations has helped hime to connect with students and his players.

“Things weren’t always positive, I wasn’t always in the right frame of mind,” Reed said. “So, if I can kind of relay to them, ‘Hey, you know, I have problems also, there’s things going on in my life that you may be experiencing too.’ If I can help them in any way through life experiences, I think that’s huge.”

And for three of those years, I was able to watch, listen and learn from my dad. And those are years that he and I look back on.

“I remember going, ‘Oh yeah, well, Cannon’s going to show up here,'” he says. “And for the next three years, I’ll be able to be with him every day. And that was awesome. I wouldn’t trade that for anything, being able to teach while you guys were going to school with me. But it went by so fast and now you’re all gone and it’s like ‘dang, that was something I should cherish a little more.’ Probably take a little more time to appreciate those times that I had with you here instead of just rushing through life.”

Those moments went by faster than either of us realized. And now that I sat in his classroom interviewing him for a story as he heads into year 23, things have really come full circle. Although he’s been at it for a long time, my dad still has some juice left in the tank.

“Going to get to 30 [years], and then we’ll see. Everybody was thinking maybe last year was my last year of coaching baseball. And I love the kids, I love baseball, and I love coaching them. So at least seven more [years].”

So whether it’s the first day of school or the last inning of a big game, my dad has always been there for me. And I can say firsthand that those lessons have stuck with me long after the final bell.