TEACHER'S CORNER: TEACHER KEEPS TRACK OF STUDENTS

Once Bob Summers lost a student, literally. A student disappeared during a physical education class.

After the class Summers and another teacher searched for him. Eventually the wayward student was found, perched in a tree next to the playground.

Summers teaches physical education and health at the L.J. Schultz Middle School, and he hasn't lost a student since that one hiding in the tree.

In fact, Summers said one of the highlights of his job is keeping track of his student athletes as they advance through junior high and high school. Often he sees a student with an interest or aptitude at the seventh-grade level who goes on to excel in that sport.

In addition to teaching physical education and health classes, Summers also supervises the in-school suspension program.

Summers coordinates an intramural sports program for girls and boys. In table tennis, he had 84 boys and 36 girls participate.

Summers has been teaching 23 years, most of those at Schultz. He earned a bachelor's degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University.

His wife, Kathy, teaches first-grade at Jackson. They have two children, Trent, 15, and Suzanne, 12.

In his spare time, Summers enjoys rabbit hunting, running beagles, riding horses and gardening.