Stripling ready to retire as Challand 'facilitator'

STERLING – Jeff Stripling has been an educator for 34 years.

But do him a favor, and don’t call him a teacher.

“I’m a facilitator,” the retiring Challand Middle School technology teacher said. “[Students] don’t look at me as a teacher, which is awesome.”

Maybe that’s because students don’t normally get to watch wood cars race each other at more than 50 mph under the supervision of most teachers.

At his annual CO2 drag races, middle school kids smile as they discuss whether one type of wood is heavier than another.

In his tech lab, where he has worked for 19 years, students work at modules, or computer stations, while he walks around answering about 40 questions an hour and giving praise by stating numbers and pointing to positive adjectives numbered in paint on his wall.

Stripling, also known as “Strip,” has decided to retire after more than 33 years at Challand. He spent one semester teaching in his birth town of Algona, Iowa, before coming to Challand. He has enjoyed the work, he said.

“I’ve never once not wanted to show up to work,” he said.

His proudest moment of his career was when the tech room was built in 1994, he said. There he teaches home repair and other skills, incorporating math, science and engineering.

“I’m going to miss him next year,” said eighth-grader Jon Buyers, 14. “He’s so funny and always in a good mood. He’s very vibrant. [In his class] you go from learning about fish to designing your own T-shirt to racing cars.”

Buyers added that he got to design his own bridge and tower in the class. He wants to be an architect.

Eighth-grader Cariel Beasley also said he enjoyed Stripling’s class.

“Out of all the classes in the school, this is the best one,” he said. “You do things you wouldn’t normally do. Everything in there is an adventure. Every day you learn something new.”

Principal Kathy Howard said Stripling had been a wonderful teacher for the middle school.

“He’s made the tech lab come alive for kids in their lives,” she said. “Now they can go out and try these things.”

Stripling teaches three grades, sixth through eighth, she noted.

“It takes almost a magician to do what he does,” she said. “He has 30 to 32 kids at a time in his classroom, and he has to check in with all of them.”

Stripling said he intended to travel in his retirement with his wife, Lylia, who is retiring as a Spanish teacher from Rock Falls High School. Lylia is from Colombia, and they will visit her native country, where the couple have a small farm, he said. They harvest bananas and plantains. They also will travel to Europe and other locations, he said.

Jeff Stripling

Age: 56

Education: Montezuma (Iowa) High School, 1973; William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Iowa, 1979, bachelor's degree in industrial arts education.

Teaching experience: Taught a half semester in Algona, Iowa. Taught more than 33 years at Challand Middle School.

Other teachers retiring from Sterling schools

Challand Middle School

Joyce Craney, special education, 32 years

Maureen Dunphy, language arts, 13 years


Lincoln Elementary School

Jan Calsyn, special education, 22 years (previously at Washington Elementary School)


Sterling High School

Becky Reiley, home economics, 20 years (previously at Challand Middle School)


Washington Elementary School

Susan Noble, guidance counselor, 21 years (previously at Challand Middle School)