ILWACO – Jeremy Rogers will teach math and social studies at Ilwaco Middle School this school term. After serving in the Army’s Third Infantry Division in Germany and then working for a chemical engineering firm in that country for a total of six years, he sees his new job as a way to help his students relate their learning to life experiences.

When Rogers returned to the U.S. he began teaching a self-looping multi-age classroom at Arlington Elementary in Spokane for three years. He then followed his students to Garry Middle School where he taught math, computer applications and science classes another three-plus years.

Rogers was sidelined during his fourth term at Garry with a serious neck and spinal injury and spent more than a year recovering. While recuperating from his injury Rogers worked as a technician for a micro-electronics laboratory in Spokane. He then accepted a position in Mattawa last school year teaching math and science at Morris Schott Middle School.

“My wife Trina and I are both from small towns and found ourselves wanting to return to that type of environment for our three beautiful daughters,” Rogers explains. “My family and I spent time investigating smaller town settings that would be beneficial for our daughters. My girls fell in love with the Peninsula before I really was offered a position. We felt like we were coming home.”

Rogers graduated in 1984 from Lewiston High School in Idaho and then earned his degree from Eastern Washington University in 1997. “I was a true nontraditional student. My degrees are in elementary education, mathematics, and art and my interests in math and art really do compliment each other in both arenas,” Rogers said. He finds it a “wonderful coincidence that my educational journey began where Lewis and Clark’s journey entered into Washington State and now I am at their journey’s destination.”

“My goal this year at Ilwaco Middle School is to focus on math while making new friends in the community. I will be concentrating on how to use my experiences with mathematics and my own experiences to help our students achieve not only in the WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning examination), but also for life,” Rogers says.

Rogers’ daughters will be a freshman, a fifth grader and a second grader. He says of his daughters, “Kayla has already received a very warm welcome from the wonderful LINK Crew at Ilwaco High School. Cassie and Camille love their teachers and are already making new friends. Our entire family has fallen in love with the Peninsula.” Trina is adjusting to the move and looking forward to working again as a medical receptionist. Rogers and his family especially enjoyed the Rod Run to the End of the World activities.

His words to live by are, “What happens to you in life is not as important as your attitude toward it.” Rogers adds, “This is so true on many levels, not only as a student in the classroom, or as the teacher, but also as a human being experiencing life.”