Each month, Eagle Radio in Great Bend is recognizing groups or individuals that make a big impact on our community. This Appreciation Month is highlighting teachers.
By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Shelly Hanzlick had a piece of advice while raising three
sons that she shares with her fourth grade class each year.
“Always do what you love,” said Hanzlick. “That’s all that a mother and teacher
can ask. Just be happy in life.”
Hanzlick followed that advice as she eventually arrived in Hoisington to teach at
Lincoln Elementary School.
Hanzlick grew up in Longford, Kansas where she was among 10 students in her
eighth grade class.
“I like the small classes because we were all close together,” said
Hanzlick. “My dad grew up in a one-room school and reminds that’s how it should
be. Not sure I’ll go that far, but I did like the small class sizes to make
more connections."
Becoming a teacher was not the natural route for Hanzlick initially. She went
to Barton Community College on a dance scholarship and then attended Kansas
State University for a year.
“I was going to be the first girl of my family to graduate from college, but I
had no idea what I wanted to do,” said Hanzlick. “I called my mom and told her
I was going to quit.”
Hanzlick got married and put her husband through school as he obtained his
degree from Kansas State. As a game warden, her husband took a job in Sedan,
Kansas where Hanzlick worked in banking for 10 years.
“One night I had dream and the thought of becoming a teacher came to me,” said
Hanzlick. “I had all my general education courses.”
With a child in kindergarten and another three years old at the time, Hanzlick
drove an hour one way to Southwestern College to get her teaching degree which
she obtained in two years.
Hanzlick’s husband was able to relocate to Barton County as a game warden. Her
husband lived with her sister's family in Great Bend until they could find a rental
house to move their family.
Hanzlick and the two boys moved to Barton County in January 2001 where she was
scheduled to do her student teaching at Roosevelt Elementary School in
Hoisington. The Hanzlicks arrived to Hoisington just months before a
devastating tornado hit the town in April.
“I was getting my teaching degree in May of that year,” said Hanzlick. “My
portfolio that I was to turn in, was destroyed by the Hoisington tornado.
Luckily my professor said ‘you have a 4.0 GPA, we have a cap and gown, show up
for graduation.’ That was nice.”
Hanzlick was hired for a job teaching fourth grade at Lincoln in the fall of
2001 and has been teaching in Hoisington since.
“Going into that first year teaching, I remember thinking I was going to change
the world,” said Hanzlick. “Looking back, I just hung on that first year. It’s
a whirlwind. You have so much to learn that they can’t teach you.”
Now with 20 years of experience, Hanzlick claims most of her teaching style
comes from the kids.
“Stopping and talking with them, and asking them which did you like better,”
said Hanzlick. “You want the end results for everybody to be those moments when
they get it and are proud of their scores.”
The biggest challenge for Hanzlick has always been knowing she cannot solve all
her students’ problems.
“I have to make them feel as safe and inspired as I can with the time that I
have,” said Hanzlick. “A lot of it I leave to God. There are times that I’m
stressed and I’ll say ‘give me the right words’ and it will just happen. That
goes back to my dream in that this is what I should be doing.”
Hanzlick was able to teach all three of her sons.
“Hagen didn’t talk a lot in class, but he did get after a few that were talking
about his mom as a teacher,” joked Hanzlick. “Hunter was quiet, methodical and
competitive.”
It was her youngest son Holt, which graduated high school in 2021, that went
rounds with his mom/teacher while in grade school.
“Holt would get so mad at me when I took away his recess because he would keep
talking,” said Hanzlick. “He would yell ‘why did you take my recess away’ and
told him he had to stop talking during class.”
It’s a competitive Hanzlick household, even with all three of her sons out of
high school.
“The boys have had 100-yard dashes to see who still has it,” said Hanzlick. “Now
it might be who catches the biggest fish or shoots the first bird while
hunting.”
Hanzlick has enjoyed teaching in the new Lincoln school building, the close
family of teachers within and what the district is able to provide students.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to her dream she had before becoming a
teacher and the advice she gives to her sons and students.
“We want the school to be that happy place, somewhere you love and want to go
to everyday,” said Hanzlick. “Kids can sense that, if you don’t have it. We
have to make it happen.”
Read the previous Appreciation Month stories by clicking HERE.