Ortmeier says goodbye after many years as teacher, coach
OSMOND — Long-time instructor and coach Joe Ortmeier is saying goodbye after 41 years with Osmond Community School.
Joe grew up on a farm outside of West Point, NE, and graduated from West Point High School in 1978. He started working at Osmond Community School in 1984, straight out of college.
In his first days here, he said there were a lot more kids and big classes. At that time there was just the original building, before the north section had been built.
"One of the most difficult things was figuring that 'H' [floor plan] out," he said. “Figuring out which way I was going — I would end up in the kindergarten area instead of down where my classroom was."
And they were out in the yellow building, where art and music classes were, and the shop classes were. “So I had a lot of sweatshirts and sweaters because I'd be going back and forth
throughout the winter."
He started out working as the shop teacher — “Shop 1, Shop 2, Shop 3 and Shop 4," now called "skilled and technical science." He also had freshman physical education class. After about 10 years, it became more industrial technology class and less PE class.
His classes included construction, where the students built scale model houses, which he says they've been doing about 30-35 years; welding, beginning and advanced woodwork ing classes, mechanical drafting on boards, then moved on to computer drafting, then moved on to mechanical computer drafting and architectural computer drafting, which ties into construction.
For a long time, they did small engines like lawn mowers, and they also do transportation and work on gliders and model rockets — “The kids love that stuff!" Something else the classes have been doing in recent years is 3D print- ing, which they have been doing for about 10 years now, he said.
He showed his enthusiasm for his class in explaining the process of 3D printing: “The students draw the shape on the screen, then bring it through conversion software, where it gets put into code, and then it converts to the motions the printer will move to on the printer. The filament goes into the printer, heats up and comes out as a pliable thin string which piles up on itself and becomes a 3D print. "It's cool stuff!"
He has seen some changes in how his classes have been conducted. When he started, it was all hands-on, which it still is, he said, "but we've really come a long distance. For instance, we started with an arc welder and two oxy acetylene torch welders, and now we've got a mig, or wire welder, and a tig welder, so it's advanced in that way."
Many of the tools used in the classroom had been replaced and upgraded: the wood lathe, scroll saw. Over all those years, he said, things wore out, and they had to have tools that were in good condition with all the safety requirements and guards. It was important to keep those things up-to-date. The district has safety inspectors and insurance inspectors come through each year to make sure of it.
"And of course, the computers have gotten better and the programs have gotten better." He still liked having the students doing the board drawings, because he thought it was important - "you learn your skills that way."
Any injuries through the years?
"We've had a couple little things, but nothing big so far," but he reminded that, at the time of his interview, he had a couple days left, so he didn't want to speak too soon!
Joe didn't just do this type of work at school. He also has had projects going outside of the classroom. He has shingled a lot of houses in town, poured cement, done woodworking projects, and has done work on his own house. He has been able to use the tools available at the school for some ORTMEIER SAYS GOODBYE AFTER MANY YEARS projects, but said "I'm going to have to buy my own tools now!" Joe commented that, in the early years, the teaching staff was so stable. “For years and years, we were the same group. It was really neat. It’s funny, I tell people that the same seats that we would leave in the last meeting in the library would be the same ones we'd sit down in on the first meeting in August of the next year.”
Joe also recalled all the coaching that he has done. He coached football for five years, girls' basketball for 24 years, cross country for 13 years, girls’ track for 41 years, and boys’ track for 38 years. "And then junior high here and there and everywhere.”
“I was fortunate enough to have some really good teams that qualified for state. We actually had a football
team that qualified, and then we had girls' basketball - we qualified I
think, three times. Boys’ and girls’ track, we had kids who qualified, and then cross country, same thing. Those are the highlights. And just how hard the kids work all the time. Practices are always fun. Just enjoyable to watch them get better and want to do better, those are the things that are always good.”
For many years, Joe Ortmeier has written articles covering the sports he has coached. He said the thing about writing those stories for so many years is that, he knew if someone had scored the most points of anyone else, or had the most rebounds anyone ever had, or the longest jump ever, or he knew the school record before that, and he always thought those things were interesting and that’s what he would look for. He gave credit to Randy Jochum for being a good mentor in that regard.
Joe explained his reasons for retiring, saying he had turned 65, and that was probably the big thing.
“You know, it’s a great place. I work with great people, the kids are great, and I could keep doing this for another 10 years. But getting up in the morning sometimes is a tough thing to do,” he laughed. “But otherwise it’s a really good job. I enjoy it."
His plans for retirement? “Just want to be retired!" he laughed. "Everybody asks me what I’m going to do. ‘Are
you going to get a job?' I kinda just want to see what it's like just to be retired. There are other guys who are going to be retiring about the same time, and we have plans for fishing trips. I have five grandkids to follow around. My brother’s got a farm and my dad still lives on the farm, so there’s plenty of work to do there. I’ve talked to other people who have retired, who said ‘You’ll be busier. It’ll be unscheduled is all.’ Or I could still in the chair and watch TV. Nothing wrong with that!"
Joe commented, “Osmond has been real good to us. I’ve loved working with the kids. And one of the special things is that I’ve been here so long that some of the teachers that are teaching now were kids in my classroom or kids on my teams. And the school board kinda the same way. They were on my teams and they were in my classroom. And that makes me really proud. Sometimes it chokes me up when I think about it, because it’s so important to me. It’s been an honor and a privilege to work with the young kids of Osmond for all these years.”
