German teacher John Wagner plans to end his 33rd year of teaching in the United States and 9th year at Elmira.
The long-time Elmira teacher will be moving on to teach in Turkey.
“Next school year my wife and I will be living in Turkey, and we’ll be teaching in the Oasis International School in Ankara,” Wagner told Falcon News.
Before he began teaching in the Fern Ridge School District, Wagner worked flipping burgers, fighting forest fires and driving equipment on a grass seed farm, but he was mainly a student.
“I attended several colleges, including a year in Germany, before graduating from the University of Oregon,” he described.
Wagner loves learning new things and that is why he became a teacher.
“Teaching allows me to pass on this love of learning while at the same time continuing to keep learning myself,” he said.
Wagner did not always teach German, although that is what Elmira students will find him most familiar for.
“These are (in the approximate order of how much I have taught them): Spanish, Math, German, Weightlifting, English as a Second Language, English Language Arts, Bible, PE, Ancient Greek, Komund (a language I invented), French and Linguistics.”
While he taught at many schools before, Wagner appreciates his time in Elmira.
“I’ve taught at many different schools and I can honestly say that Elmira High School has been a great place. I have found the teachers and the administration to be especially nice and supportive here.”
Many students are not looking forward to telling Wagner goodbye.
“I am very upset to see him go because he was supposed to take us to Germany,” junior Jayden Breaux said. “His classes were what I looked forward to.”
“I’m sad that I won’t get to do German 4 and won’t have him as a teacher anymore,” junior Evan Booth expressed.
Not only students have been upset to see the German teacher go.
“I am pretty bummed about it,” Spanish teacher Jennifer Snider shared. “I think he has been a great colleague and has been nice having a department to throw ideas around.”
Snider comments on her favorite memory of Wagner.
“When he was hesitant at first to take students to the Portland Timbers soccer game, but seeing him finally give in and have a great time at the game with students was really nice,” she said.
Physical Education teacher Robert Lee laughed about the first year they met.
“He started teaching weight training and I saw how jacked he was,” Lee describes. “He reminded me of Chuck Norris.”
Booth commented on his favorite memory of Wagner’s classes.
“Watching movies in his class, like Kung Fu Panda and Lion King,” the German student told Falcon News.
While Elmira will miss him, Wagner will be missing Elmira as well.
“I will still be teaching next year and probably after that as well,” he described, “but I will miss the students and staff here.”
There is no doubt that Wagner will be missed by many. As a teacher, club leader, colleague or coach, many will miss him here at Elmira High School.
