Brett Chappell, a former Navy Seal, divides most of his time between teaching and being a full-time student at ASU. Chappell is a graduate secondary education major and is in the Teach for America program. (Photo by Katie Dunphy)When secondary education graduate student Brett Chappell speaks, people listen. Standing in front of a class of middle school children, he exudes leadership and a dedication to his students, both traits learned at an early age and engrained during his military service.
Chappell, who grew up on a small farm, developed a strong work ethic that he applied to his life as a Navy SEAL and to his job as a teacher with Teach for America.
Living on a dry land pinto bean farm in Goodman Point, Colo., where for many years his family didn't have running water, and living off the land they worked, Chappell learned if he wanted something, he had to work for it.
"We lived pretty much out in the middle of nowhere," he said. "We had an orchard and canned all our fruits and vegetables and would harvest elk and mule deer that were on our property."
Living this way never phased Chappell, as it was the way of life he knew as a child.
"It wasn't miserable," he said. "It was what we knew to make ends meet."
Even before he was in kindergarten, Chappell woke up early and got to work, and as he got older he continued to work even longer hours on the family farm.
"We would get up early in the morning and cut beans and do chores," Chappell said. "As soon as I could push in a clutch on a tractor, I would put in 12- to 14-hour days."
When Chappell wasn't farming, he was excelling on the athletic field, which his father made known was just as important.
Work and sports were his life, he said.
"My dad was very competitive," Chappell said. "He played on a state champion baseball team and was the 1962 cross country ski champion."
Chappell, a three-sport varsity athlete, excelled on the field and was offered a scholarship to Trinidad State Junior College.
"I thought I had a chance to play professional baseball," he said. "I got a baseball scholarship to Trinidad out of high school and played four years in college."
Trinidad State Junior College was not Chappell's first choice of school to play baseball growing up. That school was ASU.
"We would come down to escape the cold of Colorado, and I remember coming down and watching Barry Bonds and those guys at ASU," he said.
Chappell played baseball for two years at Trinidad State before transferring to Mesa State College in Grand Junction, Colo.
After his eligibility ended, Chappell thought he was going to head to professional ranks, but it wasn't in the cards.
"I finished my fourth year and thought I was going to get drafted, but it didn't happen," he said. "So I took the summer off."
Military Life During his summer off, Chappell's direction and focus in life would change forever. This was the year of Noriega and the invasion of Panama in 1989.
Seeing news reports on television of the Navy SEALs involved in the invasion military life began intriguing Chappell.
"I had never considered the military," he said. "No one in my family was involved, but I remember I was fascinated by these guys."
Searching for a direction joining the military began to be a real possibility.
"I think I suddenly realized I was never going to be a part of a team sport," Chappell said. "Because I was a lost soul and not playing sports, I was looking for direction."
Bill Robertson, a friend and and former teammate who had just been drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers, took Chappell to MLB coach Sam Suplizio's house in Tucson where he had his first encounter with Navy SEALs.
"Those dudes intrigued me even more," he said. "Sitting there with these guys and we had just invaded Panama persuaded me even more."
During the publicity of the SEAL teams, Muscle and Fitness magazine came out with a front page story titled, "Toughest School in the World," Chappell said.
"That was it," he said. "I couldn't think of anything else and didn't go back for my spring semester at school."
While Chappell was visiting his brother in Tucson, the U.S. invaded Iraq.
"Within a day or two of us invading Iraq, I went to the recruiter," he said. "They showed me a recruiting video titled, 'Be Someone Special,' and it made me want to be part of the teams even more."
During boot camp, Chappell rolled the dice to pass the requirement tests to be considered for SEAL training which paid off by him passing and finishing boot camp.
"After boot camp I went to A School in Dam Neck, Va.," he said. "I just started swimming and working out every day."
The strong work ethic and love of athletics instilled in him as a child benefited Chappell as he prepared for Navy SEAL Buds training.
"I would wake up at 4 in the morning and use the bars in the bathroom toilets to do pull ups and other exercises," he said. "Then I would go out while everyone was sleeping and go on a 6-mile run and then go to work and combat training."
After A School, Chappell got his orders to report for Buds training, and he reported to Coronado Island on Dec. 27, 1991.
Chappell excelled in his class and made it through Hell Week but had cellulitis so bad he had to go to the hospital, where he spent four days, he said.
Missing more than one day in training during this time meant you would be rolled back to the next class, Chappell said.
"After those four days I was sent back, but unfortunately I was rolled back to 184," he said.
Chappell graduated in Oct. 1992 as Honor Man, the highest honor for SEAL training. This was the first time a rollback recruit was bestowed with this award.
"One of the instructors told me don't come here to graduate and be a frogman," Chappell said. "Come here and compete to be the honor man, because that way you'll at least pass."
After becoming a SEAL, Chappell never believed he would get out of the military, but competition between special forces units at the time was high.
"Clinton was president at the time, and there wasn't much going on due to all of the competition," he said.
Chappell decided to leave the military in 1995.
Life After the SEALs After the military, he got a job at a car dealership and for six years ran the front end of the dealership.
"I made huge money and lived in a beautiful home living large and feeling invincible," Chappell said.
Chappell's new lifestyle quickly came to an end with the collapse of the economy and banks turning off lending branches responsible for providing people loans for vehicles.
"I went to work for a consulting firm, came down to Arizona, that would go into dealerships and try to help these dealerships survive the economy and that is when ASU came into the picture," he said.
Chappell said he thought it was ridiculous not to finish his degree while the market was down, and he began seeking information to achieve his goal.
"I began looking into financial aid and classes, and everything worked out," he said. "This day and age, if you don't have a college degree, it's hard to get your foot in the door."
Never one to quit on anything, Chappell said he thought this was the one thing he had quit and decided this was what was important to him now.
A New Direction Chappell finished his undergraduate degree in 2010, and received an email from ASU President Michael Crow that put him on his current path.
"I got a letter from Dr. Crow that was about Teach for America, and that changed my whole path," he said.
Wanting to be part of something bigger than his own self interest, Chappell applied for graduate school and began work for Teach for America at Challenger Middle School in Glendale.
"All of this has been the absolute best thing to ever happen to me, bar none," Chappell said. "Not only from a pride point of view but for feeling like I'm making a difference."
Vice President of Teacher Leadership Development for Teach for America, Damon Twist said he thinks Chappell has all of the intangibles that make a great teacher and leader in the classroom "Brett is one of our most humble core members I have ever met and he brings such a wealth of background in leadership to the classroom," he said. "He brings leadership not only in the classroom but in helping new core members."
Manager of Teacher Leadership Development for Teach for America Andrea Goetchius said she thinks caring for the kids is what makes Chappell such a great addition to Teach for America.
"Brett is incredibly motivated and really cares about his kids," she said. "He is such a leader in his classroom."
Through Chappell's many life achievements from starting athlete to SEAL Team Eight member, he said he thinks he has now found his true calling in life and wants to make a difference in the lives of the kids he teaches every day.
"When I decided to make the move to Teach for America, I said 'I am in this for the long haul,'" he said. "You don't get to many chances to make a difference and if you do a short period of time in the movement you are doing or the service thing you are doing you might miss out on the chance to make the type of difference you went in the game to do."
Reach the reporter at jshanco2@asu.edu or on Twitter @Joey_Hancock
