If you’ve had Mr. Korpusik for a class, you probably already know two things: that he loves to golf and that he is very ready to retire.
For nearly three decades, Steven Korpusik has been a fixture at Farmington High School — teaching World History, AP European History, AP Comparative Government, and International Affairs, and Korpusik (often referred to by students as “Mr. K”) has built a reputation that travels well beyond his classroom walls. Even students that haven’t sat in his class know his name.
“Even when I was a sophomore, before I ever had him, I was already hearing stuff about Mr. K,” senior Tiana Clemons said. That kind of reputation takes time to build, apparently about 29 years.
Originally, Korpusik didn’t set out to be a teacher. After earning his bachelor’s degree from Olivet College in Battle Creek, and his master’s degree from the University of Notre Dame, he spent a couple of years working in business. According to Korpusik, it wasn’t exactly his calling.
“I really did not care much for working in an office,” Korpusik said.
A pivot to coaching basketball at Fraser High School changed everything. Being around the players, being part of the process, felt right to Korpusik in a way that a desk job didn’t. Teaching paid less, but it seemed a better life for him. He did long-term subbing at Fraser for a year and a half before landing at Farmington in 1997, where he’s been ever since.
Even with all of his years here, Korpusik feels his leaving won’t have a lasting impact on FHS.
“When you go, you go,” Korpusik said. “The students are only here for four years at a time. You roll one group out and roll a new one in.”
Korpusik isn’t fishing for compliments. This is exactly the kind of honest perspective that has made him memorable to students in the first place. His students, however, disagree with his modesty about the legacy part.
“I think he’s definitely going to have a lasting effect on this school,” Clemons said. “The upperclassmen will pass things down to the underclassmen, even when he’s gone.”
Senior Sophia Johnson puts it more directly.
“He is gonna be remembered for his dark humor,” Johnson said “He’s always talking about how excited he is to retire and how his senioritis is worse than all the seniors.”
One of the most common misconceptions students have about Korpusik, according to Johnson, is that he hates everything. His response, characteristically, half confirms this.
“I kind of do hate a lot of stuff,” Korpusik said. “I’m very pessimistic. I have a very negative view of humanity. But I teach history. History is mostly a story of people doing terrible things to other people. It’s hard to look at all of history and be like, ‘Oh look — people are good.”
He does clarify though, that it’s not quite as bleak as it sounds. He genuinely cares about people. He thinks a lot of people are good.
“Unfortunarely, they’re usually not the people who end up with decision-making power in society,” Korpusik said.
For all the retirement talk, Korpusik is careful to make one thing clear: he’s not leaving because he hates the job.
“I don’t want people to think I’m walking away because I really hate this. That is absolutely not the case.”
He’s leaving because he’s done it for 30 years and simply wants to do something else. The lesson planning, the essay grading, the cycle of learning a new technology system just as you’ve finally figured out the last one — he’s tired of those things. Not the people, never the people.
“To work with really intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate people is not something everybody gets to do,” Korpusik said. “For 29 years here, regardless of who the staff has been, that’s actually probably been the single best thing about coming here.”
Students rank a close second of course. His students will miss him more than he probably expects.
“I’m going to miss our daily conversations that went on for the whole class period and prevented me from doing any work,” Johnson said, a tribute to Korpusik’s well-known ability to get thoroughly sidetracked by a good conversation. Johnson shared a funny story about times she’s been late to class and even an appointment once, because she’s stayed back to let Korpusik finish a story.
Retirement to Korpusik is not so much about rest as it is about flexibility, No more shoehorning errands into a 90 minute window, or trying to squeeze productivity into every moment. Korpusik is happy to have the freedom to wake up and just decide how the day goes. He’ll spend more time with the people who matter to him. He’ll play golf. He’ll watch It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And he’ll be able to do it all on his own time without lesson plans awaiting him. After 30 years, that sounds about right.
“It’s not ‘Thank God I’m done,’” Korpusik said. “It’s more like — now I just get to do the other things I’ve always wanted to do and just haven’t gotten to.”
