by Ben Kouchnerkavich
“Teachers were in short supply, so my wife and I both got a
job teaching in Lancaster, Ohio,” he said.
In Lancaster, he taught science for 16 years. His wife,
Sandy, brought him to Michigan after she took a job at Hope College. He subbed
for a year in the late ‘80s in the Holland/West Ottawa area. He was hired in
1988 by the West Ottawa school district to teach math, and then left in 1991 to become principal of
the junior high in Allendale, where he remained until 1996.
With a local business partner, Mr. Alspach opened Holland’s
first brewpub-the Black River Bistro and Brewing Company. He sold the brewpub in 1998 and took a job in which he taught math at East Middle School. He left East and
went to Holland High School in 2009 to teach 8th grade math, and he then came to Holland New Tech in 2010.
“I’ve considered retirement, but with a new director [at New
Tech] and the plans she has for the future, I plan on working another 1-2
years, BUT NO MORE!” he emphasized. “When I retire, I’ll move up north to my
wife’s house- I know that may sound strange. We’ll spend winters in Michigan and
summers at our Canadian cottage. When she retires, we don’t know if we’ll stay
in Mecosta County (which is the location of her house near Ferris State University, her current place of employment) or move to
a small house in Holland. It depends on how many friends we have here.”
When the idea of New Tech was proposed, Mr. Alspach knew that he
wanted to be a part of the new approach to learning that the school offered.
“When I came to New Tech from Holland High School,” he said, “My reason was I
didn’t think I was being effective as a teacher with the typical high school student. New
Tech offered me a different teaching environment in which to help young people
learn. I’m not sure how that’s working out, but I think PBL (project-based
learning) is not a fad or a shiny penny, but something that in the long run
many schools will adopt.”
Mr. Alspach believes Holland New Tech can be a leader in helping
other schools make the change to project-based learning.
As for now, he’s reflecting on a career well spent.
“Over 40 years of teaching, I’ve had about 6,000 students
cross my path,” he said. “There have been a lot of positive experiences. I
don’t remember any negative ones. I’ve made mistakes. We all slip up. But I’ve
never done anything that I’ve regretted.”
Some of his most memorable experiences were that he
had a field studies group in Ohio where he took kids out west to sail and cave.
Here in Michigan, he’s a charter member of the award-winning CLT (Content
Literacy Team), and of course, one of the founding members of Holland New Tech
High School.
“We take chances and hopefully those work out,” he said.
“Education always has its bright spots and dim spots, but overall everything’s
been bright. You’ve got to approach it with a very flexible personality. Lots
of things turned out funny, although you may have wanted to cry at the time.”
“One reason that I have stayed in education so long is
because of the personal relationships I form with students,” he went on to say.
“I try to take an interest in what they’re doing.”
“I think the way Mr. Alspach teaches is way different than
the other teachers,” said New Tech student Anthony Garza. “I understand the
math way better when we learn it by basically learning ourselves and doing
projects instead of doing work in math books like at other schools.”
