“The best way to learn what you want to do is practicing doing that thing,” said Jack Tesch, a sophomore block student from St. Norbert College.

Sophomore block students, also called SNC Blockers, are students like Tesch who shadow teachers at Notre Dame Academy and gain experience in teaching.

Tesch is from Appleton, Wisconsin, and attended Xavier High School, which was also a faith-based school that he said fostered community.

In high school, Tesch participated in the Mock Trial team as well as Book Club and chose to attend St. Norbert because of its Catholic identity and its respected history program. 

Tesch says that there were two people who inspired him to be a teacher, as well as his own grandfather, who was a teacher and coach at St. Mary’s in Neenah.

“There were two people that inspired me to be a teacher,” he said. “Those people were Mr. Jeff Stary and Mr. Tom Neises. They were both passionate and knowledgeable about what they taught, and it showed.”

Tesch is partnered with history teacher Greg Geiser and says that he has gotten a lot of good advice and experience out of working in his classroom.

“Mr. Geiser is a teacher who appreciates good work and expects nothing but the best from his students,” he said. “He also has a good sense of humor that brings a good balance to the learning environment in his classroom.”

Tesch shared that he doesn’t have a particular favorite moment at NDA but thinks his time as a whole here is “memorable and valuable.”

“The advice I would give to future sophomore block students is to focus on the experience you gain in the field of your placements,” he said. ”I believe that the most powerful element of learning how to teach is to take in the classroom of the teacher you observe and be immersed in that environment.”