Ella Pederson

Mr. John Morrissey is a new faculty member in the English Department. He came out of retirement to join GHS.

The school bell rings for the first day back at GHS. Most students, and some teachers, dread the noise, but not English teacher Mr. John Morrissey. He is thrilled to finally teach again after a year of being out of the classroom.

”I don’t garden. I don’t golf, and those are the things people look forward to doing in retirement,” Mr. Morrissey said. “I thought, ‘I’m still young enough and I still have good health,’ and that is why I wanted to go back to teaching.”

At age 18, Morrissey said he decided that he was going to be a teacher. He wanted to do something that was helpful and productive and ultimately decided that teaching was going to fulfill his ambitions. He would later go on to teach at Ralston High School for nearly 20 years. After only being in retirement for one year, he finally realized that the retirement lifestyle was not for him.

“I love interacting with students and being able to help students out,” Mr. Morrissey said. “I also like the people that I teach with.”

After he realized that he did not like being in retirement, he decided to apply for a job as an English teacher. GHS was a school that Mr. Morrisey had really admired. He thought that Gretna had a great reputation for having excellent students and teachers, so when he found out that they were hiring, he took a leap of faith and applied.

“Mr. Morrissey impressed us with the reason he wanted to get back into teaching,” Principal Todd Mueller said. “He is very good at building relationships with students.”

The hiring process is the same for all teachers. Applications are given to the school, then interviews are scheduled accordingly. The interview is a three step process. The first step is questioning and conversation with the superintendent. If the teachers pass this, they go on to meet with the director of curriculum and instruction, Dr. Rex Anderson. Lastly, they are interviewed by the building principal. Mr. Morrissey was the only English teacher GHS hired this year.

“There are fewer years ahead of me then there are behind me,” Mr. Morrissey said. “I’ve lived most of my years, so I want to make sure that every year I live is an exciting year and I feel like I’m doing that this year.”

Now in his early 70s, Mr. Morrissey is still a teacher after only retiring for one year. He said he is still loving his job, and also said he thinks teaching teenagers makes him feel young.