‘I knew that this was my calling’

It took Edward J. Kostelnik almost a quarter of a century to get back to what he really wanted to do in life--teach. Kostelnik served in the Army in World War II and, expecting a long battle, enlisted in the Navy during the Korean War. Only by retiring after 17 years in the Navy was Kostelnik able to start teaching. He joined the teaching staff at Marian Catholic High in 1969 and has since been named Catholic High School Teacher of the Year. Kostelnik, 67, retired in 1988 but still teaches and is involved in Chula Vista politics. Kostelnik was interviewed by Times staff writer Terry Rather and was photographed by Vince Compagnone.

In my family, we had two generations working in the steel mills in Homestead, Pa. My grandfathers, my parents and all my uncles worked at the steel mill.

After I graduated from high school, I joined the Army in 1943 during World War II. I was in for three years. After the war, I happened to attend church in a neighboring community where I met a classmate of mine. He said he was studying to be a teacher.

I thought to myself, I helped this guy through U.S. history, and he’s going to teach social studies? If he can do it, I can do it. It seemed to me to be the right thing to do, so I attended Edinboro State Teacher’s College.

I really tried to get a teaching job. I was turned down at my first interview. The reason the guy gave me unofficially was that I was Roman Catholic, and I had a foreign-sounding name. This was in 1951.

There was a recession going on, so I got a job at the steel mill. I worked as a brakeman on the switching railroad. I lasted six months. That’s all I could handle. I knew there had to be more to life than making steel.

Jobs were hard to come by because of the recession. I thought the Korean conflict was going to blow up more than it did, so I decided to go on back in the service.

I decided on the Navy rather than the Army because the living was a little cleaner. You slept in a bunk and got hot meals, rather than the Army’s C rations. Once I got in the Navy, I realized it wasn’t a bad sort of life, so I finished my career in the Navy.

I had put teaching on the back burner until 1969, when I retired from the Navy. By the strangest of coincidences, the assistant principal at Marian High was from my old neighborhood. I was hired in September, 1969.

Because I was still new at being in charge of the classroom, and it had been years since I had done my student teaching, I had to over-prepare. As I gained experience, I got a little better at classroom control and setting a pace for what I wanted to accomplish.

What you just need to do is show a real interest in students as individuals and to be genuine about it. Most importantly, you have to enjoy what you’re doing.

I knew that this was my calling. I really knew that very first year. The faculty made me very welcome, and the students accepted me. I tried to participate not only in their extracurricular activities but in the community as a whole. I was totally involved in the school community through the years.

Even though it took me years to get back to it, I think I was destined to teach almost from the beginning. I’m glad it worked out the way it did, because I enjoyed my Navy experience also.

I retired from teaching in 1984. My wife and I bought a travel trailer and traveled the country for two years. In 1986, the principal asked me to come back and teach, so I taught again and enjoyed that experience so much I decided to teach an additional year. I retired a second time in 1988. Now I still substitute occasionally.

Teaching has been such a great experience for me. I’m glad I had the chance to teach. For me, it was really worthwhile.