Mr. Schmidt's Journey Through Clarence

By Claire Collins

However, Mr. Schmidt did not stop there. After graduating, he attended the University at Buffalo, where he would also go back to coach freshman football at 19 years old while still in college. Mr. Schmidt loved football and began to think that he might want to be a phys ed teacher at Clarence. He was steered away from this idea by his father, who wanted him to work in business. His father believed that the business industry would be more successful and that Mr. Schmidt would be able to live a better life working in this industry.

After graduating from UB with a degree in Business Administration, he worked at a print shop. This taught him about business and prepared him for teaching. "I personally believe you can't be a business teacher without having experience in the business world," Mr. Schmidt explained. He worked in this job for 17 years until he met with the director of the Academy of Business and Finance at Clarence High School who offered him a job teaching business classes. Without an interview or any application, Mr. Schmidt got the job and began teaching classes. He explains that his mother was a big inspiration for his teaching career. "When I was younger, one person that influenced me educationally was my mother," Mr. Schmidt reported. His mother was an English teacher at Clarence, who was well-loved by the community and inspired him to become a teacher. 

While he was teaching business classes, Mr. Schmidt still wanted to stay healthy and fit. He coached football while teaching business and would run almost every day. However, this ended at 50 years old when Mr. Schmidt was told by the doctor that he was too active for his age and the doctor advised him to cut back on physical activity. This meant that he could no longer coach football or go for runs. 

Mr. Schmidt was frustrated, as his life had revolved around football, but continued teaching as he was inspired by Clarence and being able to inspire young people. "Being able to educate and inspire young minds keeps me here," Mr. Schmidt reported. He says that he is driven to continue teaching by "the smile on people's faces" as they make a realization or learn something that he contributed to. Mr. Schmidt is also very involved with the school. As the head of the Interact club, Future Business Leaders, and Varsity club, he helps the school and students a lot. "It's frustrating when other people don't have that much inspiration about Clarence," Mr. Schmidt says. 

As Mr. Schmidt is no longer able to coach or do much physical exercise anymore, he has developed a new interest in nature and the cultural history of Clarence. "You can do what's called the tours of mansions in Buffalo for free. Things like the Botanical Gardens are cheap to go to," Mr. Schmidt says. "There are so many cultural aspects of Clarence." Mr. Schmidt discussed the importance of knowing the culture and history of where we live and explained that it does not cost that much and is not hard to go see some of the cultural aspects of where we live in Clarence.

Although his football career has come to an end, Mr. Schmidt has still been able to enjoy teaching and exploring nature and the culture in Clarence. "I have no regrets," Mr. Schmidt says. "What I'm teaching here today, I will be able to go on forever."