Growing up, education never crossed the mind of David Westhora. At the beginning of his college career Mr. Westhora was majoring in business and starting a music label with his band at Portland State University. However, he soon realized that this was the wrong path for him.

“My interest in education started my freshman year in college,” Mr. Westhora said. “I was asked if I was willing to teach some education classes to high school students as a part time job. That’s where I fell in love with the classroom, so I immediately changed my major from business, and I went into science.”

 After getting his masters in education, Mr. Westhora taught biology to high schoolers. However, something told him he was destined for more.

“In college, a couple of my friends said they saw me being an administrator one day and I never really knew why,” Mr. Westhora said. “However, during my second year of teaching in Frisco, more leadership opportunities were presented to me and that’s what gave me the more solid decision that I wanted to go into administration.”

No matter how successful a person becomes, there will always be obstacles in their way and struggles they must endure.

“As a teacher, you learn to work with students, and after a while, you get pretty good at it; you learn how to deal with them and build relationships with them, even when they mess up,” Mr. Westhora said. “Now one of the obstacles I face is working with adults. If they’re doing something wrong, then it’s more challenging to have that conversation.”

Mr. Westhora started his career in Frisco at Liberty High School, and initially had no thought of going to Reedy.

“I knew there was a new school opening and an opportunity opened up for all of the teachers interested in putting in their transfer to have an interview with Mrs. Lecoq,” Mr. Westhora said. “She was the assistant principal at Liberty, and I found out that other people I worked with were coming here too, so it just felt like the right thing to do.”

While a career in education wasn’t a dream of his from the start, Mr. Westhora has grown to love coming to Reedy to inspire and encourage students every day.

“I just really enjoy being in the classroom,” Mr. Westhora said. “Throughout my life, I had many different job opportunities and every single one had never felt right. I feel confident and energized by being in the classroom and working with students.”

In the future, Mr. Westhora hopes to fulfill his dreams of being a part of his favorite movie series, The Lord of the Rings.

“My wife and I have a goal that once our kids are out of the house we are going to retire and teach abroad,” Mr. Westhora said. “We like to travel and my top place I want to go see is New Zealand. I always joke that I am going to retire in the Shire.”

Mr. Westhora cares for his children and feels the same about all of his students, and that is what makes him a good teacher.

“My biggest fear is my kids growing up and not having the support and experience they need,” Mr. Westhora said. “Working with students you get a glimpse of what their life is like at home, so I want to give my kids a good home life where they have structure and someone to love them unconditionally.”