“I moved to Baldwin in June 2012.  I had been contacted by the previous FACS teacher, Sandra Lawson, about taking her position because she was retiring. I had met her at a conference in Wichita a couple years prior when I was a student teacher and she remembered me because I was the only male there. I didn’t decide to become a teacher until I was 23 or so and had already graduated from K-State in hotel & restaurant management.  Both my parents were teachers and teaching gave me the opportunity to be around sports by coaching.  The decision to become a FACS teacher was because I had already taken many of the required classes in my previous degree so I could get my teaching license faster.  I had to go back to K-State for 2 years, including student teaching. My first year coaching was 2007.  I was an assistant junior high basketball coach at Riley County, which is outside of Manhattan.  The head coach I worked with had over 50 years of coaching experience so it was a great way to get started. My favorite part about coaching is that I get to be around sports still because I grew up playing sports and coaching is a way to be involved in sports still.  Bigger than that, is the opportunity to see kids improve and grow beyond what they might have thought possible for themselves.”