Shop Teacher Forges a Legacy

It was a bittersweet parting for Steve Hamilton (B.A., Industrial Arts, ’65) when he retired in June after 35 years as a high school shop teacher. His voice is a little shaky as he describes his retirement party. “There were 26 students there from the past 35 years, including one from my very first day of teaching,” he says. “It was very emotional for me.” He describes the thousands of students he taught as diligent, hardworking, and polite. Teenagers polite? “Yes,” he says, “even those from difficult situations.” Clearly, there was a special bond between these kids and their shop teacher.

Christine Ohlinger, vice principal of San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, California, where Hamilton taught for the past 30 years, says that his students had great respect for him. “Steve worked with a lot of difficult kids,” she notes. “He took kids who might not have been successful otherwise and brought out the best in them.”

Saying goodbye to his students and shop was difficult, but Hamilton’s greatest disappointment is that San Juan’s welding program was discontinued. “We’ve sacrificed something that I think is important,” remarks Hamilton. “We don’t have those exploratory experiences for kids to find out what they want to do. Just for a kid to drill a hole or cut a piece of wood accurately … they might not be skilled at the time, but they’ve been introduced to it.” He admits that there are vocational programs available, but most have stiff obligations that don’t jibe with a teenager’s perspective. “A 16-year-old boy doesn’t think much beyond girls and getting a car,” says Hamilton.

For years, Hamilton spent hours of his own time after school in the shop, helping students weld whatever their imaginations could spin: dragons, scorpions, and a giant eagle, which won best of show in the 1998 California State Fair. “I’ve seen some unbelievable successes come from artistic talent—something that they’re born with, not taught,” says Hamilton.

Hamilton and his wife, Elaine, have two children—daughter Erika is a senior at CSU, Chico. Now that he’s retired, Hamilton will focus on his successful metal sculpture business, which includes huge, zany birds. Hamilton’s art is carried in several galleries, and for years he has been the top-selling artist at the popular annual Saratoga Rotary Art Show. But what does he consider the highest compliment? “To have a student who can weld much better than I will ever be able to.”

Lisa Kirk, Public Affairs and Publications