BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Mark Geiger has worked for 23 years at North Florida Technical College, but in a sense, he hasn’t worked a day.
That’s how much he has enjoyed teaching the school’s welding program. Except for times when he was sick, Geiger said he never once thought, “Man, I don’t want to work today.”
Geiger’s now ready to enjoy a different type of day as he will retire at the conclusion of this school year.
“I really enjoyed what I did,” Geiger said, “but my boat’s ready to go fishing.”
That’s not to say it was an easy decision for Geiger to tell himself now is the time to walk away.
“Working with these students, you know you’re doing something good,” Geiger said. “There’s nothing better I could be doing than teaching these students a trade.”
Yet there was a time in his life when he never would’ve envisioned himself as a teacher.
“I would’ve told you you were nuts,” he said.
It made sense, though, for someone who had so much knowledge to share.
Industry experience
Geiger worked at Boone Welding in Gainesville, but he didn’t begin his career there as a welder.
“I actually started out there sweeping the floor,” he said. “I started in maintenance, just as a job to do when I got out of high school.”
He did become a welder and wound up doing all the company’s tig welding and special-metals work for eight years.
Geiger eventually became the company’s general manager and vice president his final eight years there.
“You just start at something, and you give it your all,” Geiger said. “If you see that you’re making progress, you continue to do it.”
Boone was bought out by a waste company, so the job “just kind of went away,” Geiger said.
“I had the opportunity to buy the business, but it was tough managing that company for eight years,” Geiger said, adding, “I worked hard at that job. I gave it everything I had.”
Becoming a teacher
J.T. Mahoney, who taught welding at Santa Fe College, offered Geiger a teaching position, which he said he’s glad he accepted.
Geiger said he was scared during his first year of teaching, but after that, he described being an educator as “relatively easy.”
“Everything I learned at Boone I’ve brought to the classroom,” Geiger said.
Teaching at Santa Fe lasted a couple of semesters. Geiger was then contacted by Jim Ward, who was the administrator at North Florida Technical College. Ward was friends with Geiger’s father, W.C., who taught agriculture at Alachua’s Santa Fe High School. NFTC was in need of a welding instructor.
Geiger admitted he wasn’t aware the school in Starke.
“I did not know it was on the map, but I’ve tried to put it on the map,” he said.
He certainly liked what he saw when he visited the school, which had had all-new welding equipment.
“The lab was set up to the T,” Geiger said. “I was just really elated when I got the opportunity to come up here and work.”
Preparing students for career success
The welding program at NFTC consists of students who are currently in high school or who are adults. Geiger said his students have always gotten along and willing to help each other out — something he encourages them to do.
“I teach teamwork,” Geiger said, adding, “It’s going to be just like that in the shop (as part of a job). You’ve got to be a part of the team.”
Students in the NFTC program gain experience doing work for customers. Geiger said people will bring equipment such as lawnmowers by to be repaired by students. The cost, if any, is minimal.
“The kids get so much out of it,” Geiger said. “It’s hard to charge money when the kids just learn so much. We do charge some, but I also do so much for free around here.”
Geiger said his students have probably built a dozen grills/smokers for people in the community.
“We cook on every one before leaves out of here to make sure it works,” Geiger said. “That’s a requirement of building a smoker — me getting at least 10 pounds or 20 pounds of chicken quarters and making sure it’s worthwhile.”
The knowledge and the experience students leave the program with are in demand. Geiger said the United States needs more than 200,000 welders.
“Our kids have a job when they get out of here,” Geiger said.
Retired life
Geiger not only loved teaching at NFTC; he loved Starke. He moved there from Gainesville in 2001, purchasing 15 acres near the Pleasant Grove area that put him a 7-minute drive away from NFTC.
He’s looking forward to spending more time on his land, with a goal of becoming a self-sustaining farmer.
When he’s not tending to his garden, chickens, dogs and cats, he’ll enjoy fishing. Geiger said his boat needed some repairs, which were recently completed, just in time for his retirement.
Geiger enjoys all types of fishing, but especially likes taking his boat onto freshwater lakes and catching specks. Orange and Santa Fe are his favorite lakes.
“You catch more in Orange, but to me, there are better fish out of Santa Fe,” Geiger said. “I fish Orange and Santa Fe quite a bit.”
He also likes to hunt.
“I’ve spent most of my life outdoors,” Geiger said.
Geiger has passed on his passion for outdoors activities to his four grandchildren, who, of course, will occupy quite a bit of his life in retirement.
“I’m looking forward to spending time with them,” Geiger said. “They all go hunting and fishing with me. They love it, even my two granddaughters. I raised all of them around the woods and water.”
He’ll enjoy being with his grandchildren and participating in various activities, but it will be an adjustment.
“It’s going to be different. I’ve worked all my life,” Geiger said, adding, “It’s a little scary when you think about it, but on the other hand, I’m tickled to death that I don’t have to get up and sign in every day. I’ve done it for 40-plus years.”
The upside is that he couldn’t have been happier with the career he had for 23 years at NFTC.
“It’s been a great ride,” Geiger said. “I couldn’t have had a better job.”
