Name: Tom Hornburg Jr.
Age: 24
I recently had the chance to photograph a new friend of mine and he’s quite, hmmm… how should I say, I guess RAD. He’s an aspiring elementary school teacher. I say aspiring, only because he’s had a little trouble obtaining a job since he received his teaching degree (while writing this, Tom received an interview for a job and I hope for the best). Tom is the type of teacher that I would want for my kids and I hope that reading this interview inspires you with hope for the future of our education system and gives you a sense of what it means to find a true calling.
Q: What made you want to become a teacher? What hit you on the head and made you wake up one day and declare, “I will teach the little chiblins math…and stuff!”?
A: I’ve had the teaching itch ever since I was in first grade. I remember going through a phase at that age of wanting to be a rock star, a professional golfer, or a teacher. Those were my top three choices. Haha! Second grade hit, though, and that all fell away to a new passion: astronomy. We went through a really cool astronomy unit in second grade and I absolutely fell in love with it. It was then that I had decided that I wanted to be an astronaut and had the dream of being the first man to set foot on Mars, to be a modern-day Neil Armstrong. I had decided once I was done with the astronaut gig, I’d return to school to earn a teaching degree and teach elementary school.
I held to this passion and dream until I was 19. My junior and senior year of high school was completed at Olympic College (located in Bremerton, WA) where I had decided to go into engineering (with the ultimate goal of becoming an engineer in Astronautial engineering), and one day become an astronaut through engineering. My junior year took care of a lot of class requirements for high school and paved the way to take calculus and the first of my engineering classes.
While taking these classes, my Grandmother (who I call “Gramma” ) had introduced me to a local high-school Bible study that the worship leader from Lone Rock Chapel held at his place every Friday. I checked it out in May of 2003, thought it was cool, but never went back until the Fall. I should state that at this point in my life, and looking back, I don’t really consider myself to have been a Christian. While I grew up in a family that taught me that God exists, that Jesus came to die for me and that He rose three days later, I never made anything of it. I never lived by that, never took a look at what I “believed”, and had a very flimsy, incorrect outlook on life. It wasn’t until I “re-met” that Bible study (the “Seabeck Bible Study”) and started to hang out with them that I truly began to look at my faith and see what all of this actual “Christian stuff” was about. That happened in late September, it wasn’t until late October that I had actually sat down and invited Christ into my life. This began a beautiful walk with my Creator and Redeemer that I continue today.
I finished up high-school and began my third year at Olympic College. This was the year I started the “hard stuff”: calculus-based physics and the rest of my engineering courses (materials, thermodynamics, and engineering dynamics). This was the worst year of my school life that I have ever experienced, in terms of grades. Throughout this year, I had prayed that God direct me where I needed to go; this is the first time I had seriously looked at my dream of being an astronaut and started to doubt that I wanted to do that at all. Whenever I prayed, I always got a response of “push on and finish this”. I did, but I continued to pray if this was right or not. It was not until that summer, of 2006, that I finally got the answer. I remember praying again, “God, what do you want me to do?” The response was overwhelming: at that point I remember the passion to be an astronaut left and God saying, “Be a teacher.”
It was about this time that I had applied to the University of Washington and had been denied entry to their engineering program. Probably for my grades: I did not meet a 2.0 requirement in my physics courses, and my engineering courses were low-to-mid 2’s on the GPA scale.
The one thing that scared me the most about changing careers, though, was telling my parents. What would they say at this sudden change? Will they back me in this new endeavor (this was a silly question)? I remember riding into Silverdale with my dad to run some errands. I remember him turning to me while passing Anderson Field, asking me if I was going to reapply to the UW. I faltered, my heart raced, and the knot in my stomach formed and grew. Swallowing the fear, I told my dad that I didn’t want to be an astronaut/engineer anymore. The passion had gone and I wanted to be a teacher. He looked at me and asked me if that was true. I told him yeah, I want to be teaching and that it had been my back-up plan all along anyway. He was cool with it. That fear, that knot, the heart racing stopped. Everything was going to be fine, praise God!
I had applied to a few different colleges, including Washington State University. Though Western Washington University is viewed as THE premier college for teachers in our state, I wanted to go to WSU. I had visited it before, I had friends there, and after a bit of research, I found that it had (and still does!) a great teaching program. I got the acceptance letter in late September, early October and started school in January of 2007.
I had many fun experiences, met a bunch of fun people, and grew in my walk with the Lord. I graduated Cum Laude and with that important teaching degree in December of 2010. Since graduating, I’ve moved back in with my parents here on the Kitsap Peninsula until I can find an actual job position. I’ve been looking for work since January of 2011, but I have not been able to get into any official teaching position since then. Not all is dark, though: I know God has a plan for me and that He will guide me where I am most needed. He has also provided me a family in need of a high school math tutor for their son, whom I’ve been tutoring for the past few weeks.
Q: Is there something wrong with our education system? Or is everything fine and it’s all in our heads? If so, what needs to be fixed and how?
A: That’s the age old question, isn’t it? In my opinion, I think we have a decent education system, though it definitely could do with an overhaul. Education seems to be the first thing our politicians cut money from in order to balance budgets, though, so I don’t think it will be receiving help anytime soon.
However, being in a teaching position, I am in a position to work with what I’ve got to provide the students the education they need, while also in a position to lobby for changes. I can’t say much more than that, though: I need more experience to accurately and legitimately give an opinion on our education system.
Q: What do you want to leave behind as a teacher?
A: I want my students to know that they are smart, that they can learn, and that they just need the tools to unlock the knowledge hidden within their brains. I want to give my students these tools they need to succeed; each student’s tools will be different and hopefully tailor-made for them. These tools will include study habits, knowledge of how they learn, and resources they and their parents can use for years to come.
During my reign…err, career as a teacher, my students will also learn tolerance of one another’s beliefs, cultures, and hobbies. I hope to impart some manners and understanding of people onto my students, to show that we live in a world of varying beliefs and cultures and that we may not always see eye-to-eye on certain things (and that this is okay). That we can express our beliefs and we don’t need to ridicule others for seeing things differently. I do, though, want my students to feel confident in their beliefs and to teach them the difference between tolerance and acceptance.
Q: Will you ever stop watching cartoons?
A: Haha, not at all! I really love cartoons and have a number of favorites, which include most of the early to late 1990’s Nickelodeon shows (Rugrats, Doug, Rocko’s Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Angry Beavers, Ren and Stimpy), Cartoon Network shows (the English dub of Dragon Ball Z, Dexter’s Lab, Powerpuff Girls, Kids Next Door, Samurai Jack) and a few modern ones (Adventure Time and the first three seasons of Spongebob).
Q: You’re thoughts on anything I haven’t asked and should have? (Anything you want to say?)
A: I really want to be teaching, to be honest. I feel God has chosen me as a teacher and want to honor Him through a teaching career. I had a lot of fun doing my student teaching experience and miss being in the classroom. To those teachers, administrators, and principals out there that are looking for a teacher, please consider me for a teaching position. If you want a resume and cover letter, please contact me at Thomas.hornburg@email.wsu.edu.
Whether or not you believe in God, I hope you do believe in a higher force. Tom found his calling and is going for it, not holding back. This is what gives me faith in the future: passion. Passionate people like Tom are the people who drive this world to be a better, more positive place to live. I hope everyone finds his or her calling like Tom does and I challenge you stick with it, no matter how hard it gets. Happiness comes from finding a reason in one’s life. Whether that’s becoming an astronaut or chasing a career path and suddenly finding out you want to be a teacher, don’t give up on finding that passion.
