One of the remaining three original teachers at Newcastle Elementary, Seth Miller is passionate about helping our community’s youth become their best selves (and maybe even replace him one day as teacher).
How long have you worked in Newcastle and what brought you here?
I have been lucky to be a part of this area and community for a long time. I grew up in Eastgate and learned at Newport High School. After graduating from Western and student teaching in Bellingham, I began my teaching journey at Apollo Elementary. I felt so thankful for having been hired immediately after my training to become a part of this community. As the school district built Newcastle Elementary, I interviewed and was asked to transfer to the new school with half of our students, getting to be one of the first teachers to become a Newcastle Lion. Twenty years later, I am lucky to be one of three staff members that is still part of the lion pride. One of my dreams is to stay a part of this community until I retire, maybe one day having the school rename the gym “Miller Gym.” The other part of the dream would be to pass on my position to a former student who could take over for me.
What are some of the ways you contribute to our community?
The number one way I get to contribute to our community is by helping guide amazing kids into becoming tweens who will someday help lead and make the community a better place. I mostly do this through leading by example and by encouraging students to be their true selves, showing their kindness, responsibility, integrity, and perseverance. In past years before raising my own family, I gave countless hours to leading after school activities and coaching. While I’m taking a break from coaching, I mostly contribute through simply trying to make the world around me better than before.
Tell us a Newcastle memory.
While most of my best Newcastle memories include big learning moments with my students, I'd like to highlight two with my colleagues and principals. In our first year as a school, our amazing principal, Christy Otley, planned a town scavenger hunt for us. We were teamed up and sent to some special places around town. It was fun to learn about the town and bond together. This year, our current phenomenal principal, Dr. Wood created an Adventure Lab that was similar. The end goal was to learn about our communities' history while bonding. We visited the rail track remnants that moved coal to Seattle, the cemetery by Lake Boren, and many other spots. This was a history that I had previously learned on my own while Geocaching. It was fantastic to have a refresher course and to share it with my colleagues. Upon returning, our principal led us through a debrief and made connections about how we are part of this community, its history, present, and future, and can make it a better place through our work. It was very meaningful to me.
What do you hope for the future of Newcastle?
As I teach our children, we do focus on physical and mental skills, but the bigger part of my passion is to help students become their best selves. We speak about how to take care of ourselves, but also how we are part of, and take care of each other, and our community. This is the future I see for Newcastle. It is a peaceful, happy, safe, inclusive place, and we love being here. I hope for this to continue.
What is your idea of a perfect weekend in Newcastle?
My perfect weekend in Newcastle would begin with some rest from a long, exhausting week of teaching. I'd wake up and hit some balls at the driving range. Then I'd go for a walk at Lake Boren and play some Pokémon Go. After some rest, I'd love to play some pickleball at the park or the YMCA, then get dinner at Tapatio. The next day I would rest some more, play some more, and maybe go get some ice cream with my daughter at Frosty Barrel.