The Word - The End Of An Era

GHHS News

The End Of An Era

Maureen Flanagan - October 4, 2011

Four favorite teachers share some information about their years here at Grandview.

At the end of this academic year, two favorite teachers will be retiring, while two other favorites are still on the fence. Mr. Greg Wieland and Mr. Andy DiSabato are both ending their teaching careers in May of 2012. Mrs. Jeri Hendricks and Mr. Ray Corbett are still deciding between retiring or sticking around a few more years.

Each teacher shared their opinion on their teaching experiences and their past years here at Grandview.

The first interviewee was Mr. DiSabato. He has taught at Grandview for 26 years. Before teaching here, he was a substitute at a variety of schools and coached wrestling at Ohio State. Mr. DiSabato said that he chose to become a teacher and coach because of one of his own teachers in high school.

He said “If I can positively influence kids to make good choices and live a healthy lifestyle, then I’ve done my job.” Before applying for the job of health teacher and wrestling coach, Mr. Larry Larson called him and recommended that he apply. Mr. Larson knew that Mr. DiSabato was the most qualified for the job.

In comparing teaching at Grandview to other schools, Mr. DiSabato stated that “I really couldn’t see my self anywhere else.” One of his best Grandview memories was coaching the 2002-2003 wrestling team. “It was a great season with really talented boys” he said.

Mr. Greg Wieland has taught biology and science here for 31 years. This was his first teaching job. He applied for the job in the recession of 1981 and was “very happy to get the job.”

He heard from a friend that a freshman science course was open and was very desperate for a job, so he applied. He got the job two weeks before the beginning of the school year of 1981 and taught ISCS.

In college, Mr. Wieland received a degree in Biological Sciences, then went back and got his Masters Degree in teaching. He was then certified to teach Biology, Chemistry and “everything else.” On the topic of favorite memories, Mr. Wieland said “there are too many too count... I’ve really enjoyed my time here. It’ll be really hard to leave when I do.”

Mr. Ray Corbett teaches government and geography. He is one of the two teachers still deciding between retiring this year or not. He has taught here for 25 years. Before teaching here, he taught for seven years at 3 other schools. These schools were Bishop Ready, Wehrle, and Jonathon Alder.

About these other schools, he said “Each was unique in its own way. I was lucky though, I got along with everyone at each school just fine.” Throughout his 32 total years of teaching, he has taught Social Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Economics, and World and American History. Mr. Corbett also received a call from Larry Larson offering him a job as Basketball Coach and Social Studies Teacher. At first he wasn’t interested, but then he decided to “explore the possibility of coming here.”

One of his favorite memories was coaching an early 1990’s basketball team. He said that “It was a young team, since we had graduated a lot of seniors the past year. They were one of the closest teams I’ve had. We only won about six games, but the kids improved a lot and made a lot of progress. I was proud of them.”

Mrs. Jeri Hendericks teaches geometry. She has taught at Grandview for 13 years. She has taught a total of 26 years, shared between Grandview, Grove City and a school in Washington. She got the job here because she was filling in for a teacher who was fired, and then decided to come back the next year for a full time position.

She knew she wanted to teach math professionally since she was in the eighth grade. She is unsure about retiring because she says “I have a great job.” She says what she likes most about working here at Grandview is the personal relationships that can be formed at a small school like ours.

To these teachers ending their careers this year or in the near future, we thank you for your many years here and the impact you had on every student. Your commitment to Grandview has most definitely aided in Grandview’s commitment to excellence.