Victories as an Educator and a Coach

Mr. Kasmer comes from a family of teachers. His mother was so passionate about educating children that she taught for over 50 years. There are countless other teachers on both sides of his family, but it wasn’t his first choice. “I was a business undergraduate, but I couldn’t find a really good job in business. I was having a really difficult time, and I decided I’m gonna try teaching.” He began substituting in a school district in Pennsylvania, where he says the whole thing began. “It was a great experience. It was a really fun experience.” Though, watching his mom do lesson plans, grade papers, and visiting her classroom over the years definitely gave him some experience.

After enjoying the substitute position, Mr. Kasmer decided he was going to become a teacher. “I feel when I come into the classroom every day, I’m doing wonderful things for all kinds of people. I’m helping students with their lives in so many ways, not just with their academics, but growing as a person.” He says that the first day of school as a student and a teacher are very similar. “The first couple days, I would actually sweat a little bit, getting in front of the kids and not feeling comfortable and not knowing them.” He also discussed motivating the students when they’re exhausted and how some days are a lot harder than others.

His 34 years of teaching include six years at the elementary level, seven in middle school, and twenty-one at high school. “Some years went by fast, and some slow. It just depends on your surroundings and how the year went overall.” Kasmer talks about some challenges that all teachers face throughout a lengthy career like his. “You have to try to educate some students who don’t necessarily enjoy school. You have to find ways to make them enjoy learning and engage them in learning.” He’s glad he made his decision to become an educator, however. “I could have been a manager at UPS at a very young age. And sure enough, right after I left there, their stock went up as they went public, so I could have had a lot of money. But I didn’t want to do that because I said to myself, ‘do I just want to deliver packages the rest of my life and just not really talk to a whole lot of people?’” The answer to that question was, of course, no. Mr. Kasmer thoroughly enjoys seeing all the different personalities and loves watching students learn and grow year in and year out. He definitely had other opportunities outside of education as time went by.

As far as plans for retirement, Mr. Kasmer is taking it step by step. He wants to travel and possibly continue coaching, which is something that he also has a lot of experience in. He explains the similarities and differences between teaching and coaching. “For both, you have to have a love for what you are trying to teach/coach, and if you’re not, your students and your players will pick up on that from the minute you get in front of them. They’re gonna be like ‘what is this person doing as our coach or as our teacher?’” He explains that for both, you have to be able to deal with all kinds of different personalities when somebody’s upset at a particular time. “The biggest difference I can point out immediately is that you have to be able to motivate the students in your classroom on a whole different level compared to being a coach. Coaching a sport, generally, everyone wants to be there, everyday.”

Mr. Kasmer has many, many accolades throughout his many years of teaching, along with numerous leadership positions and coaching positions as high as Division II basketball. He even worked some Division I basketball camps. “I was in charge of the Green Club here at Cape, and I brought the number of participants from a couple students to as many as forty in a year. We were very systematic and consistent with what we did. We won the Jefferson award, which is a national award all six years that I was in charge.” This led to Mr. Kasmer being able to secure a grant for the high school, and its benefits still stand to this day. He also led the Twilight program for four years as well as the summer evening credit recovery program, along with holding many other leadership positions throughout his career. Mr. Kasmer has also been offered principal positions in several different school districts. He has been praised at every district and school he’s worked on, and he will be dearly missed here at Cape.

Matt Kasmer’s final message? Make your education worth it. “Education opens the doors to so many things. It doesn’t matter if you’re gonna be a plumber, a pilot, or a doctor, if you’re an educated person your life is gonna be a lot easier to manage. You’re gonna be able to think much more logically. Getting a good education is so important and it’ll open all kinds of doors for you no matter what you choose to do for the rest of your life. Don’t just show up and get your diploma.”

Matt Kasmer was asked to identify a Cape Henlopen HS colleague to answer three questions describing Matt.  Matt chose Mr. Rick Cawthern for whom he has the utmost respect, among over too many other terrific co-workers. 

Questions:

1. How do you know Mr. Kasmer? I’ve known Mr. Kasmer for over 12 years, being in the same department.  I had the privilege to work with him and learn from one of the best!  One of the smartest guys I know!
2. What kind of legacy would you say he is leaving as both a teacher and a coach? Mr. Kasmer’s legacy would be a teacher who really cares about the students.  He will always assist in any way to help and take time from his busy schedule for his students to be successful.
3.  If there’s anything else you wish to say about him, please put that here. He is a huge Philadelphia sports fan!  Eagles, Phillies and 76er’s.  He can give you the latest sports news on those Philadelphia teams. Most people don’t know this, but he can be seen in the Cape gym very early in the morning, weekday or weekend, working out playing basketball.  He was a star basketball player in college.  He also travels to Salisbury and plays in an over the age forty baseball league. And he is an expert on the movie “Jaws.”