New CTE Teacher Mr. Michael Kopans has an entrepreneurial spirit and a strong faith that has led him down many different paths in life.
He has taught for six years total and currently teaches two marketing classes and a computing class at Socastee, but he started in a different career than education.
After growing up in Dayton, Ohio, he attended Wright State University in Ohio, where he majored in pharmacy management.
“I landed on pharmacy retail, because it paid really well and was a really nice job,” he said.
Before coming to Myrtle Beach a year ago, Mr. Kopans lived in Columbia and Asheville, NC.
“Columbia was a lot of fun, very hot, but you don’t have the beach,” he said. “Columbia is a great place to visit.”
While in Columbia, he worked with youth at NewSpring Church. He also has helped coach high school basketball teams.
His passion for mentoring youth is what inspired him to switch careers and become a teacher. He joined “Teachers of Tomorrow” to become certified. He taught at elementary schools in Columbia and North Carolina, and was a long-term substitute at Socastee Middle School last year.
“I got into education because I realized that I loved working with kids,” he said.
He also fell in love with reading in college, and has published his own children’s books related to his faith.
“My first book I wrote was called ‘God Even Defeats Giants: David and Goliath’ And my second book was a Noah’s Ark story, which is actually a story where my own kids are in the book and go back to biblical times,” he said.
In addition to writing books, Mr. Kopans has a podcast named “Success By 1,000 Wins” about how to manage money that he works on in the summer. He has 12 episodes out so far.
He hopes to have a long career at Socastee and would consider coaching basketball in the future.
“I did say no this year,” he said, “but my hope is to get back into coaching again because I love basketball.”
