Jon Guldager has worked in various different positions through his tenure at Elmira High School, including being a coach, a teacher and, most recently, the Career and Technical Education director.
Some of Guldager’s jobs around the school now are overseeing the CTE program, coordinating the ninth-graders success program, working with SmartPass — the new hall pass introduced this semester to Elmira — and keeping track of attendance.
“I enjoy being around the kids and helping them succeed in different ways,” Guldager told Falcon News.
Guldager has worked at EHS for 33 years and was a teacher for 25 years. He taught multiple different subjects like government and economics.
“I miss the classroom sometimes,” the CTE director said.
Guldager says COVID changed some of the school culture.
“The maturity levels changed quite a bit, people became less social and had a hard time interacting face to face for a few years,” Guldager said.
When not at school, Guldager is doing something sports related, whether it is coaching or watching his favorite teams play.
“During the summertime, it’s filled with all but maybe three days of playing the game of baseball or coaching somewhere with the Eugene Challengers,” he said.
Guldager coached football, basketball and baseball here at Elmira. He also coached baseball at Willamette High School for 25 years, helped the head coach of football at Churchill High School for three years and is now the pitching coach at North Eugene High School. He stays involved with coaching Elmira’s Powderpuff team for the annual grad night fundraiser as well.
Additionally, he is the pitching coach and schedule coordinator for the Eugene Challengers, which includes athletes from all over Lane County. They won the state title in the summer of 2024.
“We were one hit away from going to the world series this year,” Guldager said.
Guldager has been married to his wife for 33 years. She is a math and PE teacher, and head soccer coach at Willamete High School. They have two kids together — a son that works in the medical field in Austin, Texas and a daughter that is a first grade teacher in Salem, Oregon.
Guldager graduated from EHS and went on to college for four years at Linfield University, where he played on their baseball team. Once he got his degree, Guldager decided to return to his home town and has worked at Elmira High School ever since.
“I like the staff, I like the students,” he said. “I grew up out here so it is comfortable for me.”
He plans to work and help out around the school for at least another year.
