Dave Rosenthal smiles while sitting
Dave Rosenthal
Dave Rosenthal is a Spanish teacher and head coach of the West High girls varsity soccer team, and he has been teaching at West High for 29 years. He first ended up at West after his wife pushed him into exploring different options besides the small private school in Maryland where he was teaching.
“She said, ‘You can do more and impact more students at a larger school. You just have to have the confidence to do it.’ I took a risk, coming to get my master’s degree and then to come and teach at a larger school.”
He didn’t originally start out attempting to teach Spanish, either. Rosenthal took French in high school and didn’t start Spanish until college as part of a foreign language requirement. He lived near a student from Mexico who was studying abroad, and he started working on Spanish to talk with her better. He credits his college professors for getting him motivated, and from there, he greatly enjoyed the language and its cultural aspects.
Rosenthal’s favorite part of teaching is when students have a light bulb moment and realize how Spanish has come into their lives after originally thinking it wouldn’t be helpful.
As a soccer coach, he has many memories to take away from that position as well. However, it isn’t just the victories that stand out to Rosenthal.
“[The team] had two state championships, we had 10 consecutive appearances in the state tournament, and those are good memories, but there’s also individual players that stand out over the years for a variety of experiences and a variety of stories.”
Retirement plans for Rosenthal include community service and soccer coaching, as well as other projects.
“I kind of dream about a cabin in the woods by a lake so that I can sit down and just relax a little bit. And I want to try and fiddle a little bit with some writing.”
His parting advice for students? Stay openminded.
“I love to try and get students to be openminded because openmindedness can lead to opportunity going forward. And if you can keep your opportunities and options as open as possible, then you get to choose the types of paths you want to do. If you’re close-minded and you’re really set in your ways, you’re really limiting yourself to the possibilities.”