A Teacher Throwback

AHS Staff members take on high school after returning to their alma mater

A student’s four years of high school leaves a long lasting impact on their lives. Within the hallways, friendships are made and memories are created. These high school experiences have such a positive influence on people's lives that many past Anderson students have returned to teach at their alma mater. 

“When I was in high school I was not a huge scholar, I was more of an athlete, and high school didn't become a big deal until my sophomore year when I realized that I needed the grades for college. I try to instill that in these guys that this is really important,” Mrs. Hensley, an intervention specialist and class of 1995, said. 

While it might not feel important at the moment, the classes and experience you get to have are important and will influence any person’s after high school plans. 

“I credit most of the change in me and being able to see myself in a different light from the way my teachers treated me,” Mr. Walla, history teacher and class of 2009, said. 

Teachers at Anderson don't just want to help students pass a class and learn skills, they want to help them discover themselves and support their goals throughout all four years. 

“I didn't actually plan on teaching here, I went and taught at other places for five years and then I didn't want to be a head football coach anymore ,and I wanted to get an assistant football job,” Mr. Szabo, math teacher and class of 1995, said. 

Being a teacher at their old high school was not always their plan, but the community and dynamic of Anderson made teachers, like Mr. Szabo, want to return. 

“My wife and I were also talking about potentially having kids, and so it would have been to go to a different school district to get a pay raise, and so a math job opened up here and I could coach football here, track here and have a math teaching job… But it wasn't always my plan to come here,” Szabo said.

Anderson provided Szabo with a coaching and math job, which were two aspects of Anderson that Mr. Szabo enjoyed it as a high school student and got to teach at the same school years later. 

“High school counts...make the best of it and make sure that you show who you are as a student,” Hensley said.

The years you have at high school are a chance to leave a mark, become who you want to be and make life-long memories that will stay with you. It is important to make the best of it.