District Staff: Elementary: Madalon Segelken

Madalon Segelken

By Deb Vorderstrasse

October 10, 2007

Not many youngsters get to play school in the district courtroom, but that’s where young Madalon Segelken and her friend, whose father was the York County sheriff, got their start in “teaching.”

“We would go to the third floor where they had big cupboards of teachers’ manuals and textbooks,” she explained, “and we would pick what grade to teach. Then we would go to the district courtroom where there was a big blackboard and play school!” She also admitted to playing school anywhere with anything that would hold still for a reasonable amount of time—like her dogs and cats.

In 1970 Mrs. Segelken graduated from the Kearney State Teacher’s College with a Bachelor of Arts degree and that fall started teaching in the Hebron Public Schools (now Thayer Central Community Schools). During her 38 years of teaching at TCCS, she has taught second, fourth, fifth and sixth grades. This year she teaches Language Arts to 32 fifth graders.

Mrs. Segelken has lived in the area all her life. She was born in Holdrege and grew up in York, so her roots go deep. She and husband, Jack, now retired, live in Hebron with a white Chihuahua, Tico, and a white cat named Snugs.

Mrs. Segelken values the involvement of parents in their children’s academic work. “Things are so different now,” she points out, “because both parents work outside the home.” Nevertheless, most of the parents are very active in helping their children with homework and sending them to school with a good breakfast. It makes a big difference.

After nearly four decades of teaching, Mrs. Segelken has plenty of classroom memories! One year her students had a spider “zoo” consisting of one wolf spider. On recess they would run outside and turn over rocks until they found a mole cricket for their spider’s lunch.

And speaking of lunch. Mrs. Segelken remembers returning to the school after lunch one day (when lunch hour was really an hour). As she approached the school, she noticed all the students and teachers standing outside the building. No one wanted to go back inside because a snake belonging to one of the students had escaped from its container in a classroom. Mrs. Segelken found the tiny, pencil-sized garter snake wrapped around the leg of a chair in the first-grade classroom. She caught the critter and turned it loose in the neighbor’s woodpile. Due to her bravery, school resumed on time!

One of her fondest memories happened the year she taught second grade. A new student hopped into her classroom and eagerly announced, “Hi! My name is K--, and I don’t know how to read, but I’m going to learn this year!” And he did, going from not knowing the letters in his own name to proudly reading up to level by the end of the year.

For Madalon Segelken, there is nothing more rewarding than the look of gratitude and joy on a child’s face when he succeeds. And that is just one more reason why Mrs. Segelken loves to teach!