Mr. Mauch is one of my favorite teachers in Fruita 8/9. He is currently a Special Education teacher and case manager ever since the school opened in 2006 and is a secondary school teacher for 26 years so far.
He was born in southwestern Ohio. When he was little, he wanted to be an archaeologist and then a geologist, even though he was quite interested in teaching. Also, he would read National Geographic articles on some of his interested topics and present them to his family—which had his parents and five siblings.
During college, he attended Miami University and got a BA in Geology, then moved to the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth where he got a Master’s degree in Geology. His first major job was an offshore exploration geologist with Getty Oil Company and later with Texaco in Houston. He continued working with geology until three years after he got married, and this was the point when Mr. Mauch decided that the industry was only a benefit for shareholders and was willing to teach. As a result, he and his wife moved to Denver to earn a Master’s Degree in Secondary Education – Science at the University of Colorado – Denver.
For several years he taught science and math in Denver before his family moved to Steamboat Springs to teach high school-level science there. At that time, he became interested at Special Education, so he returned to the University of Colorado in Denver to get a Sped license there.
He moved to the Grand Valley in 1996 and taught both special education and science at Fruita Monument High School for 10 years. He successfully applied for a position when the 8/9 school opened, where he was a science teacher for the first year and switched back to special education the following year.
I like him because he cares a lot and helps me with challenging work a lot, compared to my previous case manager in middle school.