Impacting Lives: The Remarkable Journey of Teacher and Coach Terry Johnson
Dec 08, 2023
Superintendent Mark Kopp
Join us as we enter the world of Mr. Terry Johnson, a pillar of the Franklin County community, who's dedicated five decades to shaping young minds in the hallowed halls of Franklin County High School. We unravel his extraordinary life story, which includes a passion for languages, sports, and cuisine. Over a candid conversation, he reveals how a seemingly ordinary day turned into a life-changing moment, setting him on his path as a beloved French teacher and tennis coach.
We also examine what makes Franklin County High School such a wonderful place to learn, and how educators like Mr. Johnson go above and beyond the call of duty to prepare our students for success. Peek behind the curtain as we touch on Franklin County High School's commendable community service initiatives and discover Terry's personal interests outside his professional realm. This heartwarming and enlightening conversation is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of teachers and school administrators working tirelessly to create a nurturing educational environment.
Join us as we enter the world of Mr. Terry Johnson, a pillar of the Franklin County community, who's dedicated five decades to shaping young minds in the hallowed halls of Franklin County High School. We unravel his extraordinary life story, which includes a passion for languages, sports, and cuisine. Over a candid conversation, he reveals how a seemingly ordinary day turned into a life-changing moment, setting him on his path as a beloved French teacher and tennis coach.
We also examine what makes Franklin County High School such a wonderful place to learn, and how educators like Mr. Johnson go above and beyond the call of duty to prepare our students for success. Peek behind the curtain as we touch on Franklin County High School's commendable community service initiatives and discover Terry's personal interests outside his professional realm. This heartwarming and enlightening conversation is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of teachers and school administrators working tirelessly to create a nurturing educational environment.
Speaker 1:
Welcome to FCS Unscripted. A new podcast for one team, fcs, where we look at the stories behind every one in Franklin County schools. Well, I am so excited to be with you all today. This is Superintendent Cop. Welcome to FCS Unscripted. I am thrilled today because we have a living legend that we are going to be interviewing today as our teacher spotlight. He laughs, but he knows it is true deep down. Interviewing Mr Terry Johnson, a teacher, a French teacher at Franklin County High School, but so much more. Welcome Terry.
Speaker 2:
Appreciate it Glad to be here. I appreciate you having me. Merry Christmas to you.
Speaker 1:
Well, merry Christmas and happy holidays to everyone out there. This is the best time of year and truly. We tried to do these teacher spotlight additions once a month or so. And well, if we could have a special one that was the Mount Rushmore of educators, for Franklin County and its history, you'd be on that, mount Rushmore, I hope you know that right.
Speaker 2:
I do not. Thanks for saying that, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:
I mean Mr Johnson. If you all don't know him and most of you do Mr Johnson teaches French at Franklin County High School. He's also the senior class sponsor, he advisor. He's been announcing at Franklin County Games for years and years and years. Former tennis coach there. Terry, just kind of take us back to what made you want to get into education in the first place.
Speaker 2:
I'm a graduate of Franklin County High School and the Franklin School systems went to Elkhorn and it was a great experience. Especially in high school I had teachers that really, really impacted me forever. You'd always mentioned Mr Sturgeon, mr Roach, ms Weddington, tom Smoot and many others. I saw how much education meant to them. I saw how much they impacted their students and how they changed students' lives, including mine. But I also saw how much it did for them, how it changed their lives and how they grew and became better teachers as time went along. And I wanted to be like that and I knew how rewarding it was. I wanted to do something that made a difference, not just for myself but for others, and I was very fortunate that. You know it's a really long story, but the short story is my life was going to take a completely different course in May of 1972. Because I had already graduated from UK. I had been asked to be in the master's program in Spanish at UK, already been assigned classes at University of Kentucky for the fall semester of 72 to teach. My fraternity brothers were already signing up to be in my Spanish classes, which was not going to go well. I knew that.
Speaker 2:
And then something occurred during that summer, on June 23rd 1972, that changed the course of my life forever. The woman that always loved, my wife, and I, got back together because we had dated off and on through high school and college and she must have broken up with me 25 times. But something happened that she called me and said we need to get back together. And we got back together permanently the next day. Mr Hoagland called me from Franklin County High School the next morning. And so we have a job for you in Spanish and French. I said I'll take it. And he said what about football? Would you like to coach some football? I said I know nothing about football. He said how about tennis? I said I'll take it. So the three things I'd always wanted my whole life to marry the woman I'm married to now, to teach Spanish and French and Franklin County coach the tennis team All came true in less than 24 hours.
Speaker 1:
That's amazing, and those are the kind of stories that you hear, and I hope that there are some folks out there listening to this that are thinking about education as a profession. And how long have you been doing this? Now, I know the answer, but I want everyone else to know.
Speaker 2:
This is my 52nd year and I guess I get asked every day when you're going to retire and usually if 1,000 people ask me in one day, I give the 1,000 the person $100, but that's how much I get asked every day. I'll tell you now, and I tell this to people all the time. You know I'm a Christian. I know that God called me to be a teacher. I know that God called me to be at Franklin County High School and I'm gonna be there until the calling is over. And at this point in my life I feel that I'm still meant to be there. I still feel like I can do a good job and I wanna be there. That probably was Peyton Manning, said. You and I have said nothing lasts forever. I'm sure it won't last forever, but until the calling is over I'm gonna stay there and, believe me, it's the biggest blessing in my life, other than my wife, my dog, to be at Franklin County High School and I really try my best every day to live up to that calling.
Speaker 1:
Well, it's amazing as superintendent I get to go to different schools. I go to different community events. Anytime I bring up Franklin County High School, hey, how's Mr?
Speaker 2:
Johnson doing.
Speaker 1:
I do know a lot of people that's for sure, and that's the power of an excellent teacher, not just the pedagogy and all of that, it's the relationships that you've developed with these kids over the years. There has never been a person that I've ever met that says, oh, that Mr Johnson, boy, he, you know every single person. Oh, I love Mr Johnson. I'll give you a great example, a good friend of mine, chris Dispinette. A little shout out to Chris community member friend of mine. We went to the football game, you know a week and a half ago or so, and went in. The first thing we heard was your voice, you know, doing the pregame announcements, and Chris just looked at me and said, oh my God, I love that man.
Speaker 2:
I love that man.
Speaker 1:
And I said well, you know it's universal and that's to your credit.
Speaker 2:
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:
Again, mount Rushmore of educators. You would be the first chiseled into granted, there's no question. But you know we had this discussion with the senior class officers this morning.
Speaker 2:
It was the last time we're gonna meet till after Christmas, and I told them what a great job that they had done and how they had served our school and we were true servant leaders.
Speaker 2:
But we ended up by saying you know, it's like with me if somebody thinks I'm a certain thing and they put me on a certain pedestal pedestal which I wish they wouldn't do then I never once say well, look at me, look how great I am. I don't want them to do that here. I want you to say, I want them to say that's what I need to live up to that's what I hope to be is what people think I am.
Speaker 2:
So our common thread with me and senior class officers is to stay humble and stay grateful, and I think that's you know. Once again, I'm not always either one of those things, but we try to be, and I think as long as we try to live up to the expectations and the standards that people have for us, we can do good things.
Speaker 1:
It's about setting an example. You know, I think that's the biggest thing that you know. I've been doing this for 30 years and I think when I first started out 30 years ago, things were really different than they are now. I noticed that there's a lot more attacking the teacher profession by politicians. With that, I think there are fewer and fewer people wanting to be teachers. I think that the college prep programs kind of reflect that. I hope more people listen to this, because this is what folks need to understand. Teaching is not a profession, it's a calling Absolutely, Absolutely. It's a lot more than just the content knowledge and you have to care about children. You obviously do what's been the most rewarding thing over your 52 years as an educator.
Speaker 2:
I think it's really a day-to-day thing, truthfully Watching your students grow up, not just educationally, becoming better students, becoming better young people, becoming more respectful, caring more. We say all the time in French class it's not about your head, it's about your heart. We try to help our students care more and be more respectful, more polite, harder working, more sensitive to thoughts and feelings of others. When you see that happen in your students, it's irreplaceable. We can teach them material, we can help them and they can learn facts and learn information. It's the ability to think, the ability to use their God-given talents and the ability to grow as young people we care the most about.
Speaker 1:
Public education started in 1646 in Puritan, new England. It was started as a direct result of a lot of bad things that had been happening. There was the old deluder Satan. Laws came into existence that put a schoolmaster in each village. The reason that public education started wasn't just about the content. It was mainly about creating good citizens. I think that's so evident in everything that you've talked about today. For instance, you're the senior class sponsor and I get to work with your seniors, whether it's planning a prom, or, for instance, olivia Adkins, who's on the student board here Just such great kids and you can tell that when they go through your class they come out better people than when they went in Well.
Speaker 2:
I appreciate it, even though the senior class, their objective, is to provide events for the school and to raise money so that we still can maintain the only free senior prom in the state of Kentucky where they can learn to be committed, learn to do what they say they're going to do, learn to follow through, learn to be responsible and learn to and we use this phrase all the time to be serving leaders. We want them to learn to lead by serving others rather than telling people what to do. We want them to set an example, do what they say they're going to do and have others follow them in that process. Therefore, they serve others and serve their school as leaders. So the term serving leaders will we use all the time.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, absolutely. Let's shift gears and talk about sports for a minute. Being the voice of the flyers for so many years, you've had the great fortune of seeing a lot of good coaches come through, a lot of great players, kind of assess where we are with. We've got a new basketball coach, we do, and we've obviously Coach James has done a great job with the football team. Kind of talk this about sports just for a minute.
Speaker 2:
Frankly, he has very blessed. We've got some great coaches out there. You know you named Coach Bergeron, coach James, coach Joy Thackers one of the maybe the best ladies women's coach in state of Kentucky but our minor sports coaches work just as hard. Sure, they really care. I don't think we have a single coach in our school that's not fully committed to what they do.
Speaker 1:
It's a difficult process, sure, and the facilities. You know that's something that we've really taken since I became superintendent. We've really taken a hard look at making sure that we provide the best facilities that we can for our student athletes, and the reason is something you kind of mentioned earlier. You know, sometimes you know kids need that motivation and for a lot of kids, the light at the end of the tunnel, the motivation, is playing football or archery or whatever those things are. We've made a lot of improvements and we're going to continue to do that. We're, you know, planning an auxiliary gym that's getting ready to be started over there. So you know, I'm so proud of the work that goes on with our coaches at all of our schools, but you specifically at Franklin County. You know we've got a very proud tradition there.
Speaker 2:
We do. You know we believe in the culture of our school.
Speaker 2:
We have excellent leadership in our school. The teachers are involved in the program. Our students have continued to be more and more respectful, more polite, more and more sensitive, more caring. You know we're doing a canned food drive right now at Franklin High School, organized by the senior class but coordinated by every club in the school. Every part of our school is chipping in. Our goal is 10,000 cans, which we'll never get, but you know we're striving for that and you know we put up the school Christmas tree. The French club and some of the senior class officers did, and we're filling in around that school Christmas tree with canned goods that we're going to provide to the Access Soup Kitchen. I called Mike Lee the other day and he said we need help. So we're going to help you. And so we invited every club, every organization, school and everybody in our school is bringing stuff to help others and that's the kind of school Franklin County High School is. It's an unselfish group.
Speaker 1:
You can feel it when you walk in there.
Speaker 2:
I agree.
Speaker 1:
You know, I've been in three different states in my career and it's just different. At Franklin County High School you can feel the flyer pride and having been there a long time. It's not always there, but it is now, yeah, yeah and very, very happy with where we are. Well, let's shift gears again. Since we've got you here, we're going to do some fun facts. Fun facts with Terry Johnson.
Speaker 2:
It's about me or not? That fun.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know we're going to have some fun with this and I thought, since you know we're blessed to have a French teacher here, I'm going to at least try one in French here for your first question and tell me how bad I messed this up. It'll be fine, let's see. Quelle votre plat préférée.
Speaker 2:
Je préfère quelque chose que ma femme a préparer. Tous les plats de ma femme sont délicieux.
Speaker 1:
That's fantastic. Whatever it is, it sounds yummy.
Speaker 2:
Anything my wife fixes is great. She is the best cook in the world. Oh my gosh, I brought you some molasses cookies. I got them out in the car.
Speaker 1:
Oh, yes, anyway, my wife is a great cook.
Speaker 2:
Anything she fixes is delicious, and that's great. Especially dessert. She's awesome.
Speaker 1:
That's great. So what is that?
Speaker 2:
was pretty good.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, we try. What is your favorite movie of all time?
Speaker 2:
It's hard to say but you know it's going to sound crazy, but I was a baseball player through and through from the time I was six, I was 39.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
I mean, I play on every team you can imagine Baseball, softball, traveling teams, you name it and I got started playing baseball with my father in the backyard. And that scene in a field of dreams, oh yeah, oh. And Kevin Goster.
Speaker 1:
Tear up every time you see it. Oh my gosh, I cry like a baby Every time.
Speaker 2:
I must have seen it a hundred times. The field of dreams. But also I was a big fraternity guide UK. So at the other end of the spectrum, animal house.
Speaker 1:
Animal house yes, 0.0. It's just fantastic. Love it. But what is your favorite television show or streaming show of all time?
Speaker 2:
Oh gosh, that's hard to say. You know, I've watched every single episode of Sopranos.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:
Every single episode of Breaking Bad.
Speaker 1:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
Sometimes people say well, how do? You have such a nice car and my answer is have you ever seen Breaking Bad? Well, that's, that's great, that's great.
Speaker 1:
Last question for Terry Johnson If Terry Johnson is going to be listening to some music, what style and or what's your favorite artist?
Speaker 2:
I'm a Beatles guy. Oh, absolutely, I got serious XM Channel 18. Channel 18, get the Beatles channel, yep.
Speaker 1:
It's on my presets. Terry, it is an absolute joy to know you, to get to work with you, and it was so fun to get to talk to you today. So thank you, for I appreciate it. Thank you for what you do for us.
Speaker 2:
We really appreciate you. As you know, I appreciate, respect you and I know you do for our school and all of our schools, and I mean that.
Speaker 1:
Well, I appreciate that. Thanks so much, and we will catch you all the next time.
Speaker 2:
Great, thank you.
Speaker 1:
Well, that wraps it up for this week's episode of FCS Unscripted. Thank you for listening in and I encourage you to subscribe and follow this weekly podcast where we will share updates, information and interviews with hashtag everyone the wonderful students and staff who make up one team, fcs. Have a great week everybody.