TEACHERS

teaching positions, 440 stayed un lled during the school year and more than 1,100 were sta ed through a shortage mechanism, by a sta er with an emergency license or an alternative teaching license, for example.

e Colorado Sun interviewed three Colorado teachers who pivoted to education later in life, catapulting into classrooms at a time schools are scrambling to ll sta gaps and stem the tide of outgoing teachers.

A longtime coach jumps from NFL players to middle schoolers

Todd Devers has a long history of teaching. But before he began instructing seventh and eighth graders about business and forensic science, his classroom on many days was a football eld or weight room.

Devers coached college and professional athletes in strength and conditioning, working with the Dallas Cowboys before he moved across the country to help University of Connecticut’s football team build endurance and reach peak performance on the eld.

From the outside, his career glamorous as he traveled the country with his teams and could be spotted on TV during games. And he got a lot out of training and teaching athletes while watching them progress. But consistent stretches away from home — whether a quick weekend ying to another city for a game or an entire month for training camp, sometimes out of state — wore on him over the 15 years he spent as a strength and conditioning coach. So did holing up inside the training facility for more than 12 hours a day ve to six days a week.

Devers, 48, woke up one morning and told his wife that he was going to take a sharp turn with his career and become a teacher.

Now, after pursuing a master’s degree in secondary education at the University of Northern Colorado, Devers teaches two forensic science courses to seventh graders and two introduction to business classes to eighth graders at Hamilton Middle School in Denver, where he landed for student teaching. e educator will technically wrap up his student teaching in the fall, but with an urgent need for a teacher, the school hired him on as a long-term substitute teacher. By December, he will graduate with his master’s degree in secondary education and will earn a teaching license in science.

He’s found crossovers between coaching and the classroom, including the team atmosphere between teachers and administrators and the chance to shape young lives — on and o the eld and inside and outside school.

“Part of being a good coach is being able to relate to players and understand that they have stu going on outside of the game just like these middle schoolers,” Devers said. “ ey have stu going on outside of the classroom. Families, they may come from a divorced family. Dad may not be around. ey have a sibling that’s struggling with something.”

But with students in front of him, Devers added, “you get to teach and watch them learn and almost forget about what’s going on in the outside world. at’s rewarding.” e former coach has had to adjust his expectations. Whereas athletes he trained habitually worked as hard as they could, not all his students have the same feverish drive.

Still, he sticks with each one of his students, determined to make whatever impact he can on them. at, and the ability to be home with his family more, keeps the teacher coming back to the classroom, even as his salary was slashed by more than half.

“I love when I see a student or students who aren’t engaged early on, and you nally get it to click and they turn the corner and now they become that sponge and they want to learn more,” Devers said. “I love that. I love seeing that.” is retail manager is reigniting her love of history alongside students

Most of Lena Withers’ career has been de ned by stress as a veteran manager of big-box stores. Between standing on her feet during 14hour shifts, forgoing family gatherings to cover holidays, working 20 hours straight during a blizzard and managing a ornton Sam’s Club

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