50-Year-Reunion

This picture was taken two weeks before the lost bet and the head shaving. (I wondered if you could be country and have a shaved head.)

Mom took this picture during Christmas break. Yep! This is how I dressed all the time. (1998)

Relaxing in my favorite easy chair (1995)

My nine years in Mercer County Schools provided the opportunity to take hold of the reigns of yearbooks once again, and I was the advisor of six yearbook publications. From student to advisor, the yearbook concept continued to evolve and I was becoming more like my friend, Mr. Bourne! (Question: “ Do we recognize how much our former teachers have influenced our lives? Better yet, for those of us who have taught, do we understand how much we may have I influenced the students who learned from each of us? ”) More change was coming! In August of '87, I moved to North Carolina where a major, personal transformation began. I was heavily involved in technology and all types of opportunities were available for a young educator with a masters degree in educational technology. I had ventured into the south and it was very much to my liking. Eventually, I developed a southern drawl. My appearance changed ... I walked around in snake skin and ostrich leather western boots, and my hair grew long over my shoulders. I could go shaggin' at Myrtle Beach with Alabama and I did the “ Achey Breaky ” as good as Billy Ray Cyrus. The high school students I taught thought I was cool. I was happy, but Momma wanted me to be “ the other Steve ” she nurtured in earlier years. My Grandma disagreed. She was amused by the way I walked in my boots and held my head up high. She liked my Stetson hats. During all this transition in my personal life, I supervised the production of educational video tutorials. DSL (distance learning via satellite) at my school won us state acclaim in North Carolina. I received the North Carolina Golden Apple Award twice for my initiatives in instructional technology. Of course, yearbooks continued to flow as we rolled out six additional high school publications. I wondered if Mr. Bourne would be proud of me. Being the adventurous country person I had become, additional change was on the horizon. July of 2003, county music influenced me and I moved to the awesome state of Tennessee. It was at this time that the southern gentleman drawl thrived and I spent much time in Knoxville and Nashville and places in between. I frequented karaoke establishments and wasn't afraid to sing to strangers. Nonetheless, the day job was educating tomorrow's leaders. Still teaching high school, I advised six more yearbooks and built three television studios in schools where students produced their own news shows that were supervised by the watchful eyes and ears of the director. . . “ the Frenchmeister ” .

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