December’s Teacher Feature Winner: Robert Steele

TAZEWELL, Va. (WVVA) - Robert Steele has been teaching masonry for 15 years at the Tazewell County Career and Technical Center. Steele was once a student himself in the program and built a career out of the trade.

Before being a teacher, Steele was on the school board for eight years. He says his passion for the trade led him to where he is now.

“The trade is dying and I got a real love for the trade. I wanted to see some young people get into this trade to keep it going for years to come hopefully,” said Steele.

Steele says his love for the trade also translates to his students. He’s building up their confidence in masonry to let them know you can be successful without going to college.

“Hopefully I’ll give them some skills to where they can work and make money and take care of their self. That’s my ultimate goal. If they go on to stay in the trade that’s just even more of a plus to me,” said Steele.

Steele isn’t just a teacher, he’s also a mentor. He’s led his students to multiple initiatives to help the community. One of the projects was to make a tricycle track for students at Tazewell Primary School.

As a token of gratitude, those at the primary school donated more than $1,100 to the masonry program to help students compete in competitions against other schools. Steele’s students had another idea and he was all for it.

“They decided to take that money and go grocery shopping with the kids like shop with a cop and donate that food back to a local food pantry. It’s been an awesome project,” said Steele.

Steele says he credits a lot of his success as an educator to those around him. He says the county’s school board and superintendent have put him in a great position when it comes to educating in Tazewell County.

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