In May 2024 the Silver Creek High School health teacher, John Miller, will be retiring. Miller has worked at Silver Creek for five years and has been teaching for 22 overall.

Even though Miller is retiring, he plans to continue coaching boys volleyball for a few more years.

Miller likes working with these boys because he enjoys being part of their community.

“They [the volleyball players] are supportive of each other,” said Miller. “They come from all over the district, so it’s kind of cool seeing guys from nine different high schools come together on one team without drama.”

Although Miller is still working with the volleyball team he will be stepping out of his role as health teacher.

A factor in Miller’s retirement is the COVID-19 pandemic that shut schools down completely in March of 2020 and didn’t go back to fully in-person for over a year.

“It [COVID] forced me to use technology when I didn’t feel comfortable doing it,” said Miller.

The pandemic forced teachers all over the world to teach from home. Interactive classes were taught from video platforms like Webex and Zoom while everything else was completely independent.

“[I hate] teaching online, especially to a blank screen, where students didn’t have to turn on their cameras,” stated Miller. “It was mentally draining, to teach all day long, talking to a screen where there’s nobody there.”

Miller feels it difficult to stay motivated as a teacher when working with students virtually instead of face-to-face. Miller claims that interactions with students are the most valuable part of teaching and creating deeper connections with them as individuals and not just students. So it is to be expected that a person oriented towards human interaction won’t thrive digitally.

“One of the things I kind of take pride in over the course of my career is being pretty good at building those relationships with kids,” said Miller.

Miller’s students find his teaching style suited for the class he teaches— with subjects like sex education and drug safety, both necessary information for developing teenagers to have so they can make informed decisions.

“I think that health is an awkward subject and he made it easier to deal with,” said freshman Mae Hickey. “… [Miller made it] easier to go through and be able to learn [the subject].”

Once Miller retires he wants to enjoy life to its fullest. He plans to travel both around the United States and out of the country.

Miller said, “I’m excited to do what I want to do rather than what I have to do.”