Fritz Rauch, English teacher, has come out of retirement for this school year. Rauch has been teaching for 36 years and has been at Arrowhead since January of 2016.
He was asked to come back the Thursday before school due to Ms. Jorgensen resigning. “I was at lunch in Lacrosse, and Mr. Gierach tried to call; I ignored him, and then eventually, on the way home. I called him back. He said ‘we’re sucking you back in’ or something to that extent, quoting Godfather 3,” he said.
Rauch spent the summer recharging. When asked what it is about Arrowhead that made him say yes to coming back, he said, “Well, it starts with kids, and it actually starts with my kid in the sense that being on campus her senior year is fun.” Rauch has a daughter named Cali who is in her senior year at Arrowhead.
“But more importantly, I knew I was going to have seniors, and I haven’t worked with upperclassmen for three or four years. But it’s the kids that brought me back. I also did feel a sense of obligation to try to help our department really fill a hole,” said Rauch.
Out of all the classes Rauch teaches, he said that Journalism is the one he takes home and thinks about. “My biggest goal is to be able to look at the kids at the end of the semester and say you got something out of it; it wasn’t a waste of time, and you grew. I just want the kids to have a positive experience.”
Rauch may or may not come back for the second semester. He said, “For the next school year I will be tied to the Hartland area, but after that I am not sure; Cali will be off at school, and I will be an empty nester. I am keeping my options open.”
“Where you invest your love, you invest your life,” wrote Mumford and Sons. Rauch lives by this quote. He is a man who values his relationships with others. He says, “The things we love, the things we value, the things we care about. I think those are the things that help define who we are.”
