Two years into his studies at IU’s Kelley School of Business, Brent Bockelman was lost. Despite thinking business would open several doors for him, he didn’t find any of his classes captivating, and he needed to figure out something else to do before he was too far into his college education.
After contemplating what he wanted to do with his future, he eventually talked to a friend, who asked him two questions that would change the course of his life.
“When are the times you’ve enjoyed life? What are the things that have made you happy?”
Bockelman immediately thought of his high school English classes. Those teachers helped to bring him out of his shell and impacted his high school experience.
He pondered his decision for almost a year before ultimately deciding to switch to education. Even with the hardships, he realized he made the right decision.
“My teachers, my coaches, their whole professional existence was designed to help me as a student,” Bockelman said. “And I thought that was a cool thing to be a part of.”
Over 20 years later, Bockelman, now an English teacher at SHS, uses the experiences that influenced his high school career to impact and give back to his students. This is ultimately what led him to be honored as SHS’s Teacher of the Year for the 2025-26 school year.
Though he is currently an established teacher at the high school, he wasn’t always considering joining the profession.
As a child, he would’ve never named school as a second home. Quiet didn’t even begin to describe Bockelman. He was borderline nonverbal. Oftentimes, teachers called home, concerned about his development.
This changed in fifth grade, when his teacher, Debbie Coffing-Hall, approached him and commented on his silence. He thought it was going to be the same as always, a call home anda lecture from his parents. Instead, she ended up being the very first teacher to have an impact on him.
“She said, ‘You don’t say much, and I love that about you,’” Bockelman said. “I looked at her and thought ‘Well, this is a nice turn of events.’ Then she said, ‘Because if you aren’t always talking, you must be listening.’”
But she wasn’t the only teacher that made him feel seen. During his sophomore year, Bockelman had Steve Bowles as his English teacher, and this is where his interest in teaching first began.
He always made sure Bockelman felt like his writing was being read. When he decided to become a teacher, Bockelman decided that he wanted to be like Bowles.
“You could always tell he read every single word whenever you wrote something,” Bockelman said. “I remember I wrote a short story and he completely rewrote the last page-and-a-half of it and said ‘What if this happened?’ That’s someone that puts effort into his students.”
In his junior year, Connie Bleicher helped him see the connection between literature, history, art and music. He says that she always pushed her students beyond what they thought they were are capable of.
As a senior, Bockelman had Kay Watson a second time. During his freshman year, she helped him come out of his shell.
“That succession of teachers made me want to be a lifelong learner,” Bockelman said. “It made me excited about school and pushed me to be creative.”
Because Bockelman switched majors halfway through college, he had to take summer classes to catch up.
“It felt like it was the right thing because I started to enjoy the classes,” Bockelman said.
“I really started to get excited once I switched over.”
It took a lot of effort, but he managed to graduate in four years, and he was ready to start teaching.
Bockelman applied for positions at several schools. When SHS got back to him, he remembered how his English impacted him.
He wouldn’t have pursued teaching without their influence, and when the opportunity to work among them was offered to him, he couldn’t pass it up.
“I was really excited to return back to the school that was responsible for me wanting to be a teacher, where I saw so many teachers invest in their students,” Bockelman said. “I thought ‘Wouldn’t that be the greatest honor, to return and do the same for my students?’”
In the fall of 2005, he started his career as an English teacher. That year was different from any other because it was when numerous Chin students emigrated from Myanmar. Very few of these students spoke English, and SHS didn’t have any translators.
Despite this, Bockelman pushed through and continued to teach his students to the best of his abilities. With guidance and advice from his mentors, he finished teaching one of the first sheltered English classes at SHS.
“Everything he does is with a positive attitude,” said Bleicher, who is currently working as an instructional aide at SHS. “He’s always open to new ideas, and he’s just so professional.”
Since then, Bockelman has taught several classes including Speech, English 11 and (currently) Pre-AP English 9, English 10 and AP Literature.
Bockelman takes the time to make sure every student gets the concepts before letting the class apply their knowledge. He also meets with every student about their writing, pushing them to get better.
He uses the techniques of his previous teachers with his current students. Bowles frequently used anecdotes to keep students engaged, and Bleicher currently gives Bockelman ideas for class. Watson, he says, always made sure to challenge her students.
“(Watson) was like a mentor for me. She gave me lots of great strategies,” Bockelman said.
Bockelman gives back to the Southport community by running the Alumni Association, and because of his generous nature, he was recently honored as the Alumnus of the Year.
Achieving this honor in the same year as the Teacher of the Year award truly takes him back to his original goal of emulating Bowles as a teacher, as he is the only other person to achieve both in the same year.
Watson saw that he followed all of the criteria to achieve the Alumnus of the Year award and submitted a nomination for him.
“The theme is learn, earn and return,” Watson said. “And some of those who have been honored, they do the learn and they do the earn, but they don’t give back. He has done so much for the school and the Alumni Association.”
Even with all of this influence, Bockelman has developed his own style. He sponsors the Luddite Club, in which students can reconnect to the real world by disconnecting from their electronic devices. Next year, he’ll also be taking on the position of co-department head for the English department.
As he takes this step in his career, he hopes to help his peers and also learn from them. His colleagues think that he’ll be a great fit for this position because of his drive to grow as a teacher and his involvement in the continual development of the English department.
“He started coordinating college visits,” Principal Amy Boone said. “I really saw him start thinking and creating opportunities outside the scope of what was originally presented.”
He plays a song for his students at the beginning of each class and includes a slide with facts about the artist on the board. His attention to detail affects the students he teaches.
Some students, like freshman Kya Jones, say that Bockelman has left an impact on them by caring for his students.
“He’s always making jokes in class,” Jones said. “He also makes our lessons very engaging, and it’s made me enjoy my English classes here.”
Bockelman has grown from a once-quiet kid to an established and beloved teacher that impacts students all over the building.
He hopes to continue influencing his students. He says his goal is to make students feel good about their futures.
“At the end of the day, I want my students to have fun but also feel challenged,” Bockelman said. “I want them to feel like they got something of value out of my class.”
