Waiters, mowers, golfers: Teachers take different jobs in summertime
By JENNIFER WILSON
News editor
It must have been strange for Dr. Dave Kroeker, business professor and track coach at Tabor College, to learn that one of his advisees was his new boss.
No, Kroeker's student didn't suddenly became a dean at the college. Instead, Kroeker took a summer job at Hillsboro's Pizza Hut — an unusual place for a college professor to work.
And at Pizza Hut, Tabor sophomore Jared Hefley is his supervisor.
"I try not to give him any reason to get mad at me," Kroeker said, laughing.
For those who think high school and college teachers take a three-month vacation in the summer, think again. A great number of teachers work summer jobs in order to get extra money into the checking account.
And for some of those teachers, life as a summer employee is quite different from life in the classroom.
This is Dave Kroeker's first summer working for Pizza Hut. In the past, he's done a wide variety of summer tasks, including painting and harvesting.
But now that most of his home projects are complete, Kroeker decided it was time to try something different.
So he became a waiter.
"I'd never done that before," he said.
Kroeker generally works the supper shift, working five or six hours an evening until getting off around 10 or 11 p.m.
It's been interesting for this business professor to see how vital good workers are to any business, he said.
"I'm seeing how it works to be the low man on the totem pole," Kroeker said.
It's also been an eye-opener as this new waiter learns about tipping. You find out who in town tips and who doesn't.
And when you're a waiter making just $3.35 an hour as a base salary, the tips are essential. Kroeker now tries to tip better when he goes out to eat — it's a reward for good service, he said.
Overall, Kroeker is enjoying his new role.
"I have a good time," he said.
And would he return next summer? If they need him, he said.
"We'll see how it goes," Kroeker said.
Another local teacher taking a break from the classroom is Hillsboro High School science teacher Scott O'Hare.
O'Hare works at the clubhouse of the Hillsboro Municipal Golf Course, where he's been spending his summers for the past four years.
But working around golf isn't much of a stretch from O'Hare's part-time job at HHS. He coaches the golf team.
O'Hare works half a day usually four to five days a week, he said. His responsibilities vary, from taking green fees to renting golf carts to helping at the concessions area.
"It's nice, but we certainly have some slow days," he said. On days that are hot and windy, for example, not many golfers are on the course, so the clubhouse usually closes.
