Mr. Dahlkamp calls teaching ‘a breath of fresh air’ 

By DIANE SCHLINDWEIN
Managing Editor 

Steve Dahlkamp makes teaching kindergarten look easy. Observing his calm and reassuring way of interacting with the 5-and 6-year-olds at Blessed Sacrament School in Springfield, it seems like he’s been teaching for decades.  However, that’s not the case. Mr. Dahlkamp, as he is known to his students, only became a teacher a few years ago — and that was after having spent well more than two decades with the Springfield Police Department. 

Dahlkamp grew up in Springfield and attended St. Joseph School and Griffin/Sacred Heart- Griffin High School. (Griffin High School and Sacred Heart Academy merged while he was in high school.) He got his bachelor’s degree in administration of justice, with a minor in psychology from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. After college, he was a substitute teacher before he got hired by the Springfield Police Department in 1997. 

While with the Springfield Police, Dahlkamp was a patrolman, neighborhood police officer, a school resource person at a local high school, then worked in the Detective Bureau, where he investigated crimes against persons. He retired at age 50 with the rank of sergeant in April of 2022, after 25 years of service. 

He knows police work is a difficult field, but he chose that career to help people, he said. “Basically, we investigated anything that happens to a person,” he said of his last job on the police force, noting that was at times very trying.  It was after retirement from the police department that he began substitute teaching and eventually joined the full-time teaching staff at Blessed Sacrament. 

Dahlkamp says that at the very time he was offered a job at Blessed Sacrament, he was also offered two other positions. “I actually had three offers in just one day. I chose this job because I just wanted a fresh start. At first, I thought maybe I would stay five years, but now I’ve decided I will do this as long as I can.” 

He credits Kayla Kreiling, who also teaches kindergarten at Blessed Sacrament, with supporting his work with the very young. “I don’t think I could do this without her,” he said.  Moreover, when he’s not teaching full-time at the school, he’s getting his master’s degree in education from Eastern Illinois University, taking on-line classes. 

And though some people might call him a kindergarten cop, Dahlkamp admits he’s never seen the movie of the same name, starring Arnold Schwartzenager. As a police officer he saw people caught in some very rough situations. As a kindergarten teacher teaching 19 youngsters, what he observes couldn’t be more different. 

“I wanted to teach because everything is good here. I had heard good things about the school. You are dealing with innocent people here,” he said. “I love their innocence and their willingness to learn. They just love everything you do with them. You can be goofy and have fun, and you can still mold them. I get 500 hugs a day. One of my goals as a teacher is to make school fun. I am teaching them at the very beginning stages of their school. I don’t ever want to have a negative impact on them. It makes me happy when people tell me their son or daughter loves school. It’s great!” 

Molding fine young characters is important to Dahlkamp. “You can teach them to be good kids, and in teaching you have the opportunity to shape somebody’s life. When you teach them, they just soak it up.  Basically, they are just good kids.” 

Even youngsters have rough days, however, so if he’s aware that a child has something difficult going on at home — an illness in the family, a change in the household, or even the death of a pet — he’s tries to be mindful of the situation and give that student a break if he or she needs it.

Dahlkamp admits that working with young children means that sometimes a child will unexpectedly begin to cry — and that’s one thing that’s difficult for him. “I don’t know.  For example, if they are crying because they broke a crayon, then I just tell them to pick another one — it’s not a big deal,” he said as an example. “Frankly I’m probably a little ill equipped in that area.”  When it comes to a child who is acting out, he might softly say, “You know better than that.” In short, a quiet reminder almost always works. 

Kindergarten teachers are important mentors in learning the basics of education — and Dahlkamp says he is aware of that. He walks around the room, watching carefully as the youngsters work on their writing, math, coloring, etc. Sometimes, however, he finds himself sitting in a well-worn rocking chair, simply reading a story. Other times he is leading the children in song and gestures to act out those words, just as he did when the children presented their Christmas program last month.  “I’m up there, but really, they learned the words more quickly than I did.  I had to keep up with them!”

In moments like that, he really feels pleased with the children and their accomplishments. “As a teacher, you get very attached to people,” he said. “The other day I was looking at their work that hangs in the hall, and I was thinking they really have come a long way since the first of the school year. It’s neat to see that. It makes you proud. 

“You know, I honestly treat those kids like they are my own. I wouldn’t do anything different with these kids than I would do if I had kids of my own,” Dahlkamp concluded. “With teaching, I think you do it because you love it. It’s just really a blessing to be in the position I’m in.”