TOWAMENCIN – At the front of the room, Hindu picture books and baseball figurines decorate the front desk. By the windows, a set of tomato and aloe vera plants soak the sunlight. Along the walls, World Civilizations are stacked high in shelves. Around the room, student-created posters and gifts hang on the wall. This is inside of the classroom of the 2018 North Penn Teacher of the Year.

Mr. Joel Evans is in his tenth year of teaching Social Studies at North Penn.

“Ninth or tenth year,”  said Evans, squinting his eyes and stroking his facial scruff. .

Whether coaching on the soccer field or teaching in his decorated classroom, Evans feels as if he has finally found his niche in life.

But Evans’ path to his current life wasn’t exactly linear.

“I worked construction, I worked for Sherwin Williams paint company, I owned my own company in the garment industry. It was horrible,” explained Evans.

Evans’s time before teaching brought some interesting stories, one of them being his witnessing of his work partner losing a hand in a garment machine.

“This machine was probably sixty feet long and had a super sharp blade attached. I’m saying that it could cut through stacks of canvas like it was nothing…Well, my partner was this old man who always made sure to make my life miserable. At one point during the work, he was going off at me, and the blade sliced right through his hand,” Evans recounted.

Despite being in such an experience, Evans and his partner were able to keep their poise in a situation that would have been a nightmare for others.

“As soon as it happened, my co-workers immediately pulled my partner away so no blood would go on the fabric. While being carried out by my co-workers, [my partner] was asking for a cigarette so he could get one last smoke in before the ambulance came. During all that, I used [my partner’s] Igloo ice box to fill with ice and then put his hand right into the box,” Evans said matter-of-factly.

It was stories like these that made Evans re-evaluate his career. The physical toil and lack of job stability were all enough for Evans to realize he needed a change in life. Luckily, he did not need to look too far to find what he enjoyed.

Evans said, “I’ve always coached [middle school sports]. And teaching is the closest thing to coaching.”

But why social studies?

“It was something that I was good at. Everybody knows that all social studies teachers are also coaches. Plus, I’m bad at math,” Evans joked.

Teaching and coaching may not be for everyone, but Evans fully embraces his role as both.

“It’s always nice to see kids get better… [my players] will come and tell me, ‘Coach, I did it, I finally did that move!’ So I like coaching for that. And teaching’s the same way. You look at kids’ writing at the beginning of the year and you’re like ‘ugh.’ And then at the end of the year, you see that there was thought there, a thesis there, some analysis there. It’s always interesting for me to see kids at the beginning of the year who won’t say a word, and then at the end of the year they’ll actually do things in class because they’re comfortable. It’s kind of cool,” said Evans.

Evans does his job with vigor, living by a simple motto.

“My major thing is do your job. Do your job as a son, do your job as a husband. Whoever you happen to be, just do your job. Make sure that you’re doing what you need to, so that other people don’t have to pick up your slack,” Evans expressed.

Perhaps it was this “do your job” attitude that made him so worthy of Teacher of the Year.