After a lifetime of hard work, dedication, and making a difference day after day, the time has finally come for Construction Tech teacher Michael Blasheck to close this chapter of his life and open a new one: retirement.
He grew up in a small town in Minnesota. When he graduated from high school in 1971, he and a friend. decided to hitchhike across the country. “Travel was cheap back then, people would actually pick you up if you were on the side of the road”. They went to the Rocky Mountains, out to the West Coast, and up through Canada. The highlight of the trip was seeing the ocean for the first time in his life.
After the summer, he returned to Minnesota and went to Mankato State University to get his undergraduate degree in communications.
After graduating, Blasheck had a contract for 8 years to go to flight school in the Air Force. “Being in the flight school was like driving a Formula One race car. How many people get to do that? Very few,” he said. “If you’re a jet pilot, many people don’t get to do it, and it’s very exciting”.
He had to pass six different types of Air Force schools, each challenging in different aspects, like mechanical skills, motor skills, cognitive thought process, physical aspects, and many more. When he graduated from flight school, only three people were in his graduating class with him. After 8 years, he quit; Iit was hard to keep up, and it was enough for me,” he said.
He left the Air Force in 1983,and he went to Japan for 15 years to become a teacher, teaching communications. Blasheck enjoyed Japanese culture and their safe, friendly environment.
A disadvantage he had in Japan was getting used to the lack of space, everything is very confined and calibrated to fit into a very small place.
Blasheck left Japan in 1991 and he returned to Minnesota to get a fresh start, but ended up moving to California to get away from the harsh Minnesota winters. “I had a strong idea I’d like to be out here in California.”
He got a job in Bakersfield, which lasted a year, and then moved to Monterey, getting a teaching job at a middle school teaching construction tech.
Eventually, he moved to San Benito High School, where he taught for 15 years before landing at Alisal in 2016, where he has been ever since.
After spending 45 years in a teaching career, he will miss having access to the equipment of course, having a shop being available to work in and be creative in.
Blasheck plans to spend his retirement having small hobbies, gardening, and staying physically fit, so he can enjoy retirement. “The bottom point is when you get old in life, you still want some life left to enjoy.”
