The long journey
February 17, 2020
Wyatt Cornell
THE MIRROR
Jeremy Castleberg, a business teacher at Stevens Point Area Senior High (SPASH), took a long and awkward path to become a teacher.
Castleberg went to a small high school called Great Lakes Adventist Academy in Cedar Lake, 
Michigan. After high school, he went to college at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) to become a history teacher with a minor in psychology.
“When I got out of college in 2004 my joke was ‘Everyone got the degree I did.’ so everyone had a history degree in teaching. Every job I applied for had hundreds of applicants so it was a very competitive market so I never ended up getting a full-time job.”
In 2008, while working in construction, Castleberg found a long-term subbing job in Menasha, Wisconsin teaching history and psychology. He enjoyed long-term subbing because he got to write the curriculum and grade everything, although he would have liked a full-time job more.
“When I decided to not be a teacher anymore after that one year of doing long term subbing then I went into banking for 10 years or so. I was a manager and did sales and all kinds of financial type meetings.”
Castleberg was let go due to a company-wide downsizing and decided he wanted to go back to UWSP tO to get his master’s degree. “It was a good opportunity for me to get back into teaching and it fit up well with my master’s schedule.”
“I’m not totally sure what I want to do after I get my master’s, but I have really enjoyed teaching this year.” “If you are interested in helping other people understand about a particular subject I think teaching can be really rewarding and valuable for that type of career.”
Kaitlyn Flanagan • Mar 8, 2020 at 11:17 PM
I liked how this was a short and sweet article yet filled with very good writing. It was cool to learn about a teacher who is only a door away from the class that I am in.
Mazie Maluka • Mar 5, 2020 at 1:42 PM
I think it is reassuring to see stories about people who don’t instantly know what they what to do with their life. I really appreciated how you showed enough of his changing job professions to get a clear picture of his job experience without over explaining.
McKenna Coyle • Mar 5, 2020 at 1:41 PM
That was a good way to sum up his past of education and careers
Brian Kraege • Mar 5, 2020 at 1:24 PM
It was a nice touch to include the reason he left his banking job. Going back to school after so long must be pretty tough too.
Erich Vanblargan • Mar 4, 2020 at 7:44 AM
The story has good writing although there are some spots that can be improved. The first being the choice of the word awkward in the first paragraph as the word choice could have been better. Second in the second to last paragraph the o in to got capitalized. Otherwise the feature covers a lot of content and fulfills the intended purpose.
Kenny Schultz • Mar 3, 2020 at 8:40 PM
I really liked the content about his journey through jobs and never getting the full-time job he wanted. It was really cool that he wanted to go back to get his master’s degree.
Noah Viegut • Mar 2, 2020 at 1:50 PM
I really enjoyed this story. Its cool that he pursued so many different careers but he ultimately decided to be a teacher.