Earlier this month, Gary Neuzil, social studies, announced his retirement. Neuzil has been teaching at West for 37 years, longer than any other teacher here today. This year, he is teaching Psychology, Government and Sociology. In the past, he has taught American Studies, World Religions, Geography and European History, most of which are no longer offered at West.

“I substituted my first year. [West] had too few students and too many teachers, so trying to find a job anywhere was hard. I applied and got rejected, applied, got rejected. And then this job opened up like the day before class started. And then I took it and never left,” Neuzil said.

However, Neuzil didn’t originally intend to become a teacher. Throughout most of his early life, his path had been laid out: he was going to become a lawyer and follow in the footsteps of his dad. His senior year of college, Neuzil saw an episode of an old TV show called “Happy Days”. In the episode, the main character returned to see his dad excited for him as he had arranged a job for him with the local newspaper. The dad laid out what was expected of his son, and he wanted him back home. But Richie didn’t want that.

“Towards the end of the episode Richie said, ‘No, I’m not doing that dad. My life is out waiting in California.’ There were tears, and I don’t know where, just totally out of nowhere, I went to my dad and I said ‘I don’t want to be a lawyer, I want to be a teacher.’ No ifs, ands or buts,” Neuzil said. 

Although Neuzil has been a teacher since 1986, even teaching the children of some former students, many other parts of the school have changed since he was first hired. Over time, the student population at West has fluctuated.

“When I first started, we had 925 students and then we went all the way up to about 2,200 before Liberty, and you know, now we’re back to about 1600… We didn’t have the auditorium, we didn’t have a football field. The Little Theater was the auditorium and football games were played at City High’s field,” Neuzil said.

Of all the changes that have been made to the school building since then, the most important, and the one Neuzil appreciated the most, has been the addition of air conditioning.

“I didn’t have air conditioning for 30 years. The room got up to a hundred degrees and students fainting was not uncommon because of the heat. The remodeling was amazing. Having nicer windows is amazing,” Neuzil said.

Along with the physical school building, the technology in the classrooms has also changed a lot since Neuzil started teaching.

“I started with film strips and cassettes and 16-millimeter VCRs were the most amazing things ever. The old computers, the macintosh, the dot matrix and apple twos, that was the technology of the future. The internet was probably the biggest change that happened to education,” Neuzil said.

But not all the technology that has been released since Neuzil started teaching has been a good addition to the classroom.

“I thought cell phones would be better. It went from a device to a toy. What you have in your phone is access to the world. And I think that’s wasted,” Neuzil said.

Apart from changes to the building and technology, there have been many improvements in extracurricular activities as well. Watching West’s programs grow was one of his favorite parts of being a teacher here.

“To see that growth in art or athletics or drama… if you go down that Hall of Fame and you see some pictures starting in the mid 80s, and then all of a sudden those walls filled and we went from relatively the underdog to really up there with the state’s best, if not the country’s,” Neuzil said. 

Neuzil’s favorite thing about being a teacher here at West was how he was able to connect with and teach students.

“Being with students…it’s just really, really rewarding. I’ve always been proud of looking out for the underdog or the quiet kid who doesn’t have anybody to sit with lunch with. I want to see their growth in their success,” Neuzil said.

On the other side of the coin, some of his least favorite moments, and some of the hardest have been things behind the scenes that have to get done. This part of the job can extend far beyond the reach of the classroom. 

“The world is always going to need teachers. But to think that it’s a nine-to-five job, you’re fooling yourself. You have to have the ability, and the support at home, like I had with a wife, to get through the good, the bad and the ugly; the happiness and just gut-wrenching sadness; and to recognize that there’s challenges beyond just being in front of the kids,” Neuzil said. “It’s the stuff behind the scenes. When you get to the point where you think you [have seen] it all, you [haven’t].”

He added that while students can be creative, funny, and a little dumb sometimes, the craziness is what brings back happy memories for him.

Neuzil hopes that students take bigger lessons than just the content of textbooks away from his classroom.

“You know 90% of what I do, you can Google, but it’s what you learn, as a person, as a citizen, as a good person. I hope those things are what students take away,” Neuzil said.

Although Neuzil will miss teaching, he looks forward to being able to spend more time with his wife and his 8 dogs.

“I don’t have that next chapter, and I don’t have a bucket list. I’ve been more than fortunate,” said Neuzil. “I’m excited not to retire so much as it is to fade away. And I’m okay with that.”