The three young versions of Darren Marshall, Jamie Menefee and David Schlehuber would probably be shocked to find themselves as the teachers with the most longevity at Fossil Ridge High School.

Surprisingly, none of them finished college planning to be a teacher.

“That’s a complicated story. I didn’t want to become a teacher,” said English teacher Darren Marshall, who has taught for 31 years in Poudre School District (PSD). “And then one day, while I was just kind of hanging out in the living room by myself, I thought maybe I should go back and think about being a teacher.”

Business teacher Jamie Menefee, who has taught for 30 years in PSD, was in a similar place after graduating from college with a marketing degree and working in sales. 

”I just, I missed school,” Menefee said. “I loved high school when I was there, and I missed that sense of community.”

Social studies teacher David Schlehuber, who has taught for 35 years in PSD, had a comparable experience.

“I was going to go on to law school and do some things like that,” Schlehuber said. “Then when I stepped into a classroom for the first time, and started teaching I just continued doing it for the next 41 years, right? It just was a good fit for me.”

The three teachers explained the other subjects they have taught and some of their own things they have learned as teachers.

Marshall has taught journalism and theater in addition to English and has learned many lessons about himself over the years.

“I probably was a lot more critical of student behavior before I had my own kids and realized, oh, any kid can be a bonehead,” he said. “I’m not holier than thou, right? What was I like when I was 16 or 15? I probably didn’t have all the answers.”

Menefee has taught other subjects like video broadcasting and is the Fossil boys golf coach. Menefee explained how his perspective has changed over the years.  

“I love coaching and getting to know students outside of the classroom in a different setting, but it does present some challenges, but, I think it makes me like my job,” Menfee said. “When I started, I thought that you had to have all these rules. I would enforce a rule for a student, they’d tell me their side of the story. That would be a breach of the rule, but it makes sense for that student. So now, I have very few rules. It’s more about just handling each situation.”

Schlehuber, Fossil’s softball and wrestling coach, has acquired opinions on how students have changed over time.

“School was very different than it is now,” he said. “But there’s a great saying by Lou Holtz that kids haven’t changed, adults have. And I don’t find that much difference between kids of 1985 and kids of today.”

Through their time in the classroom, they have witnessed the rise of technology inside of schools, and have their own perspective and opinions on it.

“AI, it’s a completely different question, it’s no longer what platform is effective for teaching and putting your online curriculum so you have a digital presence,” Marshall said. “Now, it’s how are you going to teach kids that their own thinking matters and they shouldn’t always go to the internet.”

Menefee has more of a positive outlook on the information aspect of technology but finds it comes with challenges.

“So now…everybody has their own device, we can, we can do a lot of the work during the class,” Menefee said. “Instant research is awesome, but, you know, comes with challenges. I was never a stickler for taking people’s phones away or anything, but it was a huge distraction.” 

Similarly, Schlehuber finds the information access to be a positive but worries that it is taking away the sense of wonder in schools.

“Some good things about it, right, access to information and so on, but it’s kind of taken away that sense of wonder,” Schlehuber said. “With AI and stuff. I don’t know if it’s all good…I don’t know that anybody’s going to know anything in 20 years.”

The three teachers hope to leave a legacy of their own with students. 

Marshall wants to inspire his students through English, by helping them develop a positive attitude.

“I hope that people had some kind of inspiration, if not inspiration, at least they got a little further down the road with their understanding of how to read and why reading matters and why thinking matters,” Marshall said. “I can also show kids you can overcome pretty much anything if you want to overcome it. I wasn’t a very good reader. I’m dyslexic, and it takes me a long time to read something. By the end of my last semester in college, I wrote 18 papers in one semester.”  

On the other hand, Menefee has a more relationship-based teaching style and legacy.

“Focuses on relationships, which has always been my philosophy and belief,” Menefee said. “So I just hope I made a small impression on some students from Fossil Ridge that they feel like it was an experience.”

Like Menefee, Schlehuber focuses on conversations, but has his own legacy he wants to leave.

“I call it conversational history, where we have conversations and we talk with each other, and lectures are a two way street,” Schlehuber said. “l just want a legacy of kindness, and caring and hard work.”