By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

Portage Sports proudly introduces its new series called “Coaches in the Classroom.”

The series will celebrate coaches throughout Portage County that spend their days in the classroom leading today’s student-athletes to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Today’s spotlight falls on Kent Roosevelt High School’s Kardell Jackson, who is in his 2nd year coaching the Rough Riders’ football team and is an Intervention Specialist in the district.

• School district: Kent City Schools.
• How long have you been employed there: 1 year.
• What classes do you teach?: Intervention Specialist.
• What made you want to become an educator?: I started coaching while I was in college and began as a substitute. I learned how much I liked interacting with the students and decided to go into education.
• What is your favorite part of the job?: I enjoy being able to see students’ growth over four years of high school.
• What have you learned about being an educator that you didn’t know before you started?: Experience is the best teacher. My teaching methods or strategies may not be the same eacb year or even the same year round. I’ve truly learned how each student learns differently, but they can all succeed.
• Which teachers influenced you to go into education?: John Nemec and Tom Larkin.
• How do you apply some of your coaching into your classroom?: I try to make sure there is a routine and set standards and expectations from the very beginning.
• How do you apply some of your classroom to your coaching?: I remember each student-athlete is taught differently, and I may have to adjust my coaching strategy based on the player. Som players may need more reps and some may need more explanations.
• What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you in a classroom?: During COVID, I was teaching in another district, and we were meeting with students online at the time, and I had a student break out in a full Michael Jackson routine.
• Mentors in your building who have helped you along the way?: Jeremy Bish and Crystal Roberts.