Have you ever wondered what a Colonel does? How do they manage time? This is the everyday life of Dwight Lydic. 

Super bright and early in the morning, it was time for Dwight Lydic to wake up. “I wake up at 4:30 AM in the morning and get ready.” Lydic said. “Additionally, it doesn’t take me long to get ready; about 20 minutes, since I leave the house around 5:50.” 

So, with that, he drove off to school in his car.

“When I get to Benson, it is about 6:20,” Lydic said. “Furthermore, I have to hurriedly get organized; put all of my stuff away and run upstairs to open doors for the drill team,” 

Lydic patiently waits at the door for the drill team members to come and greets them. When all members are in, they start doing their sequence; in which Lydic inspects each team, carefully. The drill team normally get done at 7:20, which gives Colonel a break until he has to go teach his class. Differently from other teachers in the school, Lydic’s schedule is much more dissimilar as he has days he doesn’t teach.

“Mostly on A days, I have more classes; three, to be specific,” Lydic said. 

However, Lydic has different blocks for each day.

“I have first, third and fifth block on A day. But for B day, I have only first and fourth block,” Lydic said. “Between those class periods I am not teaching, I’m usually organizing lessons plans, or doing gradings or arranging the JROTC supply room; but the S4 is normally in charge of that.”

Beside that, he works on other activities, apart from lesson plans for his classes.

“When I’m not working on this year lesson plans, I’m working on future or next year plans,” Lydic said. “Currently, I’m writing an JROTC SOP for all Omaha Public Schools.”

Lydic also shares that managing time is quite difficult as a Colonel. “I usually don’t have time to do personal stuff.” Lydic said. “To be more specific, my job keeps me busy for most of time, from teaching to planning out for the future. It doesn’t give me time to spend on my personal time. So, when there is no school or in the summertime, I have the most free time and spend time with family.”  

When school is over, and students are leaving the school, Colonel normally stays in the school until work is done.

“I stay after school to finish any necessary work, then once it is finished, I go home; which is regularly at 5:00 PM,” Lydic said. 

In addition, he usually works late and stays at Benson till work is done.

“I have to finish it during school because it gets difficult to do at home. And it is quiet in my office,” Lydic said.  

The clock hits 5:00 PM, and work was completed, it was to return home. Lydic drives back at his house, where he eats dinner with his wife and plays with his dog. Lydic also spends some of his free time watching PBS, Public Broadcasting Service. 

Then, when it was 10 PM, it was bedtime. Lydic has to sleep extra because he has to wake up early, so he generally get only six hours of sleep. But, that’s the life of being a Colonel.