With the recent completion of the 2017-18 school year, Greene County School District lost over 200 years of educational experience with retirements by six staff members.

One of those now retired educators is Tom Braun. He has spent 35-years teaching at the elementary through high school levels, and has been a coach in a variety of sports. Braun spent his last 18-years with the Jefferson-based school district and he says he’s lived his professional career by a saying he got from one of his teachers growing up that “kids care when they know that you care.” He points to a fundamental that he’s taught his middle school students over the years.

“Everything you do, every assignment you do, every test you do, sign it with excellence. However you do one thing you should be everything (like it), and you should do that at a very high level. And that way you are always performing all the time at your peak. What’s really neat about working with middle school kids is that you can see so much growth in a short amount of time. To watch them grow over the years is the most tremendous gift I could ever get.”

Braun notes that he’s had 4,169 students in his 35-years and he has also given those students other life lessons as well.

“I always tell the kids one of the most important things you can ever do is pick a partner for a group because that should be practicing picking a partner for life. Have somebody with the same work ethic and values that you have. Because eventually if you pick a partner for life, you’re going to want those same characteristics in that person. It (takes) practice to do that and I take that very seriously.”

Braun’s advice for those thinking about going into the education industry is to have several plans ready at a moment’s notice, be a little crazy, making great connections with students and watch veteran teachers teach.