MOSES LAKE — It was the last day with kids at school at Columbia Basin Technical Skills Center, and the next-to-last day of school for instructors Susie Moberg and Kevin Chestnut. Their next-to-last day of school ever, since both are retiring.

“Doesn’t this feel strange?” Moberg said.

“It will next fall,” Chestnut said.

The two represent 65 years of experience in the classroom; Chestnut was a teacher in Moses Lake for 41 years, and Moberg has 24 years in Quincy, Ephrata and Moses Lake.

Chestnut teaches the construction class. Moberg is the school’s culinary instructor.

Moberg said she started her teaching career at Ephrata High School, then “I went back to the high school I graduated from,” in Quincy. She moved to the Columbia Basin Secondary School, then to Moses Lake High School before going to CB Tech.

She supplemented her summer continuing education classes with cooking lessons. “I was able to go to Italy and spent a month at culinary school.” She also spent time in South Carolina, learning about traditional southern cooking and barbecue. “What I’ve learned is how little I really know.”

Chestnut said his career in the Moses Lake School District started with a change of plans. “Forty-one years ago we were going to be here for a year,” he said. “I started in Moses Lake at Chief Mo (Chief Moses Middle School),” then moved to MLHS before going on to CB Tech. Teaching at CB Tech gave him a chance to spend more time with students and get them ready for the workforce, he said.

Both gave credit to CB Tech director Christine Armstrong for her willingness to listen to teacher suggestions, and her support.

Over their careers there have been major shifts in the skills kids are expected to learn in culinary and construction classes, and in what they’re expected to do with what they learn. Moberg said about 15 to 20 years ago the emphasis started to shift to skills that will be of immediate use to kids in the workforce, or as they continue their education.

Vocational classes and careers offer kids a lot of opportunity, Moberg and Chestnut said, many more choices than it might seem at first. Culinary students can work as cooks, but that training is also a path into careers from restaurant design to employee training, from food production and sales to the business of running a restaurant. “There’s so much more out there,” she said.

The building trades are booming, Chestnut said, and workers are “making a ton of money,” more than graduates with some four-year degrees. “We’re building like crazy. And it’s not stopping.” Experienced workers are retiring, and there’s a shortage of new workers – and plenty of opportunity as a result.

As a teacher, Moberg said, “you eat it, sleep it, breathe it, live it. It’s always on your mind.” Letting go of that will be the biggest change in retirement, she said, and Chestnut agreed.

Not that retirement means just hanging out at home. Moberg is moving to a new house; “for the next year, things are going to be busy.” Chestnut is adding on to his house, and has a second career as a handler at dog shows.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].