Highlands class of 2011 graduate Hahn is back at Highlands, filling the AP World and World Modern teacher position.
“I am extremely excited to be back in the school that taught me everything that I know.” Hahn said.
Highlands High School has hired nine new teachers to the district. This includes Hahn, who is not only a teacher but also a first-year football coach. Including all the new teachers, whether this is their first year or their fifteenth, the change coming into Highlands is big.
“You know, whenever we interviewed him, he did an incredible job; he had well-thought-out answers. He believed in being accountable to students. Like he believed that he was accountable to students, and you don’t always hear that, right?” Principal John Darnell said.
Hahn has been teaching for nine years, making this his tenth year teaching. When Hahn was a student at Highlands, he had met teachers that he liked and enjoyed having, which led him to want to be a teacher himself.
“To name just a few teachers that taught here when I was a student: Boimann-Hennies, Kearns, and then there’s some teachers that I actually went to school with, like Mr. Mahoney and Buchanan.” Hahn said.
Mr. Hahn is teaching AP and on-level world history this year. As a student, Hahn had enjoyed history classes, those of which being his favorite classes he had taken.
“I feel like the way he teaches makes more sense to me because we focus more on reading and getting the information rather than just focusing on one specific thing.” Lila Trudel (10) said.
Through being a football coach, Hahn had the opportunity to meet many students before the doors opened for school.
“It’s interesting going from the field to the classroom, but it’s fun. I enjoy it. I’ve built a relationship with him, and just being able to talk to him about anything.” Dom Listerman (9) said.
As students go into classes on the daily, they might not know the process their teachers go through to come work at the school. Even before the previous school year ends teachers are being talked to and interviewed by school administrators. The school admin takes into consideration everything about the interview and the teacher as a person.
“We reached out to people who we know are similar in age to him, asked what he was like and what he did while he was in high school, so like you know he played football and took a bunch of hard classes. As a teacher, we know that he’s going to help kids be successful because he did those things as a student.” Darnell said.
