First job as an educator: “I have been an educator since 1992. I started up in northern Nevada where I taught at Silver Springs Elementary School. I was the fourth and fifth grade teacher there. I also taught at Silver Stage Middle School until 2000. One thing about being an educator is that there’s something new every day and you never get the same experience every day.”

Arrival in Nevada: “I came out to Pahrump in 2000 and was principal at Mt. Charleston Middle School for 10 years until they closed it and I have been at Rosemary Clarke Middle School ever since and it has been very rewarding. You get to work with amazing people and kids. You get to see kids every single day and that makes the job even that more exciting. It’s challenging. I laugh a lot and when you can laugh at your job, it is great.”

Motivation for becoming an educator: “When I went to school I actually went into physical education because I was very active and pretty good in sports and I enjoyed that. I then went into teaching P.E. and realized that I may not be able to get a job just as a P.E. teacher, so I got my education degree and that followed into classroom teacher. I became interested in administration and here I am.”

Pearls of wisdom for students: “Regardless of what you choose to do in life, self-discipline will be the key to your success. At Rosemary Clarke Middle School, each student should be responsible for their actions by establishing patterns of behavior that will build good citizenship and concern for the welfare of others.”

Toughest challenges facing teachers: “Large class size is a huge issue. I know we stabilized a little bit this year with the budget because of the concessions given. Last year I know we were at 45 students to one teacher. This year we were a little bit down because some kids have moved out. It’s not Nye County’s fault that the economy is the way it is. I just know that teachers worry about their jobs to the degree of budget cuts but they want kids and teaching to be successful and that is difficult when you have that many kids in the classroom.”

Advice for individuals wanting to pursue a career in education: “Some people think that education is a Monday through Friday, eight to three job, but it is not. It actually does take a lot of work; yes you can get some summer time off and your holidays off. However, it does take some Saturdays and Sundays. It does take some late nights. But if you are going into education, you have to like working with kids. If you don’t like working with kids, it’s not a good idea to get into education. Be ready to work hard and enjoy what you are doing but you have to also be ready for a different challenge every day.”

Leisure time: “I love spending time with my family. I have four very fast growing kids and I have been married to my wife Toni since 1998. My wife has done quite a few articles on Alzheimer’s because we have her mother at our house too; she has Alzheimer’s so my wife is a full-time caregiver for her mom. I also enjoy watching and playing sports, four wheeling, and spending time with my family.”