by Mackenzie Radcliff

We sit in classes with our teachers every week day for an hour and thirty minutes but do we really know our teachers? Mr Lafevre is featured this month. Mr. LaFevre is a history teacher here at the high school, as well as the middle school. He is also the boys and girls wrestling coach.

Q: What made you want to become a teacher/coach?
LaFevre: I wanted to start teaching because growing up, my step mom set an example that I wanted to follow. She was a teacher; she’s actually in her last year, retiring this year. She was also the head cheerleading coach at Hunterdon Central for 25 years. Just her example, seeing her and the passion she had for it and the drive and the impact she was able to make on so many different student and athletes’ lives. It was something that I always gravitated towards.

Q: Did coaching or teaching influence you to do one or the other?
LaFevre: Yes, I got into education because I wanted to be a teacher first. That’s always been the priority and the goal. Making sure I establish myself as having a career. I think that one of the best perks about being a teacher is that you have the ability to also be a coach and I happen to love wrestling. I wrestled from the time I was 5 until I was 23 years old in college, and I love being able to teach and coach. It’s like the best of both worlds.

Q: What’s something you love about teaching and coaching?
Lafevre: I have the opportunity to do something great every single day when I wake up. I believe I have the opportunity to actually do something great and impact a student or athlete’s life in a positive way. That doesn’t mean that I do something great everyday but waking up with the opportunity to make a difference or an impact is a privilege and the coolest thing about being a teacher.

Q: Was there ever another option for a job?
LaFevre: Right out of college, I didn’t find the teaching job that I wanted so I became an insurance agent. I was an account executive. I sold property and casualty insurance to people who just bought a house or they just got a new car and they wanted to get new insurance for their car. So I would call people and ask them to let me quote them on different insurance and give them price amounts and different quotes
and hopefully sell them that policy. I hated it.

Q: What college did you go to?
LaFevre: I went to the Citadel, military college in North Carolina. Go bulldogs!

Q: Did you have a job in college?
LaFevre: I didn’t have a job in college. My job was being a full time student and being a D1 athlete. I made money through the scholarship that I got for wrestling. My job was to be a student athlete and that’s the way I’ve always looked at it.

Q: Was it hard to manage between wrestling and schoolwork?
LaFevre: Yeah, so that was a huge thing to manage. That’s why I transferred from Clarion University when I was a freshman because I had too much freedom to a school like the Citadel because it had more structure as a military college. I was up at 6 A.M. and I had to be back in my room by 10:55pm and lights out at 11pm. The structure was huge for me and my development as a person, and it definitely helped me.

Q: What were your major hardships in teaching and coaching:?
LaFevre: I don’t know if I had major hardships, I’ve definitely had many learning experiences that have helped me grow as an educator and a coach. Things that I’ve done or experiences that I’ve had, I’ve reflected on and told myself there’s some room for growth there or there’s some room to change or things to change in certain aspects. I think I’ve just focused on reflecting and doing better and implementing things better.

Thank you to Mr. LaFevre for doing this interview.