Beyond the Bridge

Seeking a job as a first-year teacher Robin Robertson heads for an interview at the Westminster Rural Agricultural Schools in the spring of 1956. Here Robin could teach and also coach varsity basketball and counsel students. Amid the pressures of beginning a new career he starts to wonder whether a big-city person like himself can adapt adequately to the lifestyle of small-town rural America.<p>This story pictures a way of life that has vanished in all too many places. Many readers will relate to the challenges conflicts and rewards between students and an untried but idealistic teacher. Others will recall athletic contests won and lost and perhaps will remember counseling that went way beyond arranging school schedules.<p>The author draws upon forty-three years of educational experience in high school and community college -- focusing on that memorable first year in front of a classroom being in charge of the community's Winter Entertainment Committee(basketball games) and creating a newly mandated school guidance program.