Q: What are the fields of education you teach?
A: “[I teach] all [of] the sciences: Biology, Integrated Chemistry, and Physics. I can teach Physical Education and Health [too].”
Q: How many years have you been teaching at Lake Central?
A: “I believe this is year 21 at Lake Central. I was [at] Whiting High School for seven, and one year at Bishop Noll.”
Q: Did you originally want to become a teacher?
A: “No, I was working in industry at first, [but] I had a science background. My wife was a kindergarten teacher while I was working in industry. Because I coached too, she wondered why I wouldn’t want to keep teaching. So, I decided to go back to school and pick up some education classes and started teaching. I’d say I was 29-30 years old at the time.”
Q: Since you are retiring in the near future, what are your plans for after you retire?
A: “I am going to keep working somewhere because I am too active. I like to do volunteer work along with something that has to do with a golf course or a YMCA.”
Q: What would be your greatest memory teaching at Lake Central for all these years?
A: “I think all the years had been pretty good. I don’t think I have any specific memory that stands out. I enjoy being with other people. That’s why I like this job. My old job was kind of isolated, and I didn’t have any social interaction with a lot of people with the company that I was with, and I enjoyed the coaching and being with kids and being with other people at the time. All of them are good memories.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about teaching?
A: “Again the interaction between [my students is my favorite thing about teaching]. [My students] keep me young. When I compare myself to other adults that are my age, I think the constant activity and interaction kind of keeps you mentally sharp. As far as you dealing with people, people are always making decisions so quickly on a daily basis. I remember somebody saying, you look at two groups of people who make the most decisions per day and who makes the least decisions per day, and they said that prisoners make the fewest amount of decisions because everything is dictating when they eat, and when they sleep. Teachers make the most decisions. I make decisions everyday for my students.”
