By the Franklin Daily Journal
EDINBURGH — Edinburgh Community High School’s drafting and design teacher has worked in one place his entire career.
After graduating Edgewood High School in Ellettsville, Brian Ingels decided to move on to the professional world, but in an unorthodox way.
“I came here in the fall of 1978,” Ingels said. “I took a map and a compass and I drew a 50-mile radius from Ellettsville and I got an interview here. They were the first ones to offer me a job. My wife and I got married probably two weeks before school started and we moved here and we’ve been here ever since.”
When Ingels started at the school, there were four teachers in the vocational wing, which included woodworking, metal working, electricity and plastics.
When students began taking trades classes through C4 Columbus Area Career Connection, Edinburgh’s vocational department atrophied, and eventually, Ingles was the department’s only remaining teacher.
Ingels originally wanted to be an electrician, but his father advised against it, he said.
“My dad worked construction all his life. I wanted to be an electrician and my dad said, ‘No, you don’t need to work outside all winter long your whole life. Find something to do inside,’” Ingels said. “That’s what I did. With the guys I had in high school, I could work with my hands. I had a really nice shop and I could do what I wanted and it lasted 43 years. My dad had a lot to do with that.”
Being the only teacher of vocational classes at the small town high school, Ingels has been challenged, but the school’s administration has been flexible, he said.
“Since it’s just me, I might have four different groups of kids during the same period: drafting class, advanced drafting class, shop class and advanced shop at the same time,” Ingels said.
To manage simultaneous classes, Ingles would have students whom he trusted help their peers while Ingles went around to each section, teaching and assisting other students, he said.
One of the most gratifying aspects of the job was having the students he taught enter skilled trades careers, Ingels said.
“I’ve had some really good kids come through,” Ingels said. “A lot of our kids go out and get jobs working with their hands. I have kids all the time — former students, grandparents — that come back and say, ‘I’m still doing this. I do this every day and I remember learning that in your class.’ I get that quite often. It’s pretty neat and it makes you feel good, to think you had an impact on their careers not just in their time here, but what they’re doing for a lifetime.”
