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Photo by Grace Cheney

Social Studies teacher Joseph Kalka talks to his students about Roe v Wade. The past few weeks he has been helping students work through a polarization packet and Roe v Wade was voted as one of the most polarizing topics in the class.

U.S. History teacher and speech and debate coach Joseph Kalka is moving to North Dakota at the end of the school year to be closer to family.

“I’m obviously going to miss the students. They’re hardworking and they care about each other. I’m going to miss my colleagues, which I feel are going to be some of the best people I’ve ever worked with. They’re brilliant. Specifically, the people I work with in the English language arts department and social studies, they are delightful humans,” Kalka reflected.

Kalka is well known for his contributions as a coach on the speech and debate team. He has made a large impact on his speech and debate students by pushing them to be their best, but also making sure they have fun in the process.

Senior Erica Bartkey has been on the speech team for four years under his leadership.

“I’m going to miss having somebody so passionate about what he does, and because he cares so much for not just speech but also the students doing it. He has also built the Stillwater speech team to one of the best in the state and overall,” Bartkey said.

Kalka is also feeling a lot of emotions surrounding leaving his speech team at the end of the year, as he has developed a close connection with those students.

“I’m going to miss my kids that I’ve developed kind of another level of working relationship with on the speech and debate teams, as I’ve done that for four years, beyond just the two years of teaching. So that’s going to be a group that I miss a lot and wish the best to,” Kalka.

Bartkey said that Kalka has taught her how to “persevere through some really difficult things and not give up on myself and to trust myself because he knows I know what I’m doing. And he’s really just taught me how to keep going.”

English teacher Sarah Lauer, who has worked closely with Kalka both as an educator and a co-coach on the speech team, said that she will miss his energy as well as his passion and joy that he has for his students and his team.

Aside from the speech and debate team, Kalka is also passionate about his job as a U.S. history teacher. He spoke about the importance of the thought process behind history and how it can have an impact on the future. He hopes that his students will take away that “history isn’t just a bunch of facts that we learn about the past because we’re supposed to, but informs us how we think about the present and especially the future. If we understand how events of our collective past impact where our communities and country is now then we will understand how our actions will shape the future to come.”

Whether it be teachers, students, or his team, Kalka has made a huge impact on his community. He is passionate about what he does and he hopes that the lessons and inspiration he gives to others will be passed down after he leaves.