An Extremely Fast 24 Years...

By Bill Wright

Somehow, 31 years of teaching and coaching with 24 of those years in Rose Hill have gone by extremely fast. Way too much has happened to wrap it all up and do it justice in a farewell article posted on rocketathletics.com. A few weeks ago, I posted an article that announced my retirement from teaching. You can read it HERE if you missed it.

For now, I would just like to thank some of the people who have been influential in my life and career thus far. I’ll start with my parents, Jim and Carolyn, and my brother, James. Life was simple and wholesome out in Hoxie, KS (pre-internet) but I wouldn’t change it and I’m grateful for the solid start in life they gave me.

Accounting I and Accounting II instructor Sueanne Hill, Head Football Coach Warren Sager, and Summer Baseball Coach Carl Adams were important to me as a high school student and athlete. In my last semester of college, I had the opportunity to student teach under Tom and Judy Smith in Plainville. Tom was also the head football coach so not only did I learn about teaching business, but I also learned a little football from the coaching side. They all were good role models for what a teaching and coaching career could be and gave me a strong example to follow when I was deciding on a life path.

Over the years, I had the opportunity to teach alongside some respected colleagues in the business department including Lisa Krueger, Sydney Shelman, and Jerry Treat. There are numerous others throughout the building as well, but space is at a premium and I simply cannot list everyone. There have been numerous important support staff, administrators, custodians, and bus drivers that made a positive difference as well. Thank you. I would also like to thank the students. My classes have always been electives. I move on knowing that those of you who chose to take my classes and learn took something away that will serve you well in your future.

Coaching gave me the opportunity to see kids outside the classroom and teach lessons you can’t learn behind a computer screen. It was also something that taught me a lot and I’ve been fortunate to coach with some really good people who happen to also be very good coaches too: Greg Slade, Scott Carr, Ray Boese, Roger Foltz, Chris Diller, Dave Glennemeier, David Penner, and Ryan Hill come to mind just to name a few. We have had some amazing times and some not so amazing moments but through it all, we built stronger young adults with life skills I know they use in their daily lives.

This website requires a lot of help from the coaches, team student managers, parents, boosters, and district patrons for each sport, each season, each year. I would like to thank every parent photographer, scorebook worker, volunteer, and webpage student who made this happen. Yes, I spent hours and hours each week working on rocketathletics.com, but it would not be what it is without all of you.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Rachel, and our two sons, Kole and Gage. I don’t adequately have the words to express how much their support and love and sacrifices of time have meant to me. They frequently have been cheated out of time because I was too busy spending time at practice, watching film, making lesson plans, grading, or working on rocketathletics.com I have really enjoyed my 31 years of teaching and my 24 years at Rose Hill High School. I will genuinely miss the students and staff of Rose Hill.

Graduating With Wright

By Cameron Mock

Rocket Athletics will definitely be something I miss as I leave Rose Hill High School. I, like many webmasters before me, was ‘lured in’ by Mr. Wright’s ‘fun class speech’. Through my freshman and sophomore years, Mr. Wright basically ‘molded’ me into someone who could take on a role for Rocket Athletics as I took just about every class he taught. So, by my junior year I was good to go and I never looked back. I was mostly an article writer and general boxscore job kind of guy as I am big on sports, and with my previous experience from my underclassman classes, I was able to pick up a groove on how things worked around Rocket Athletics. I suppose I was in a good enough groove to where I was awarded the Business Student of the Month award for the month of February and I would head into my senior year ready to be more involved in the website. I would quickly get that wish of involvement as just three weeks into the first quarter, Mr. Wright went on vacation to California for a week to visit one of his boys and completely leave his ‘mistress’ (Mrs. Wright’s nickname for the website) to me. So, of course with COMPLETE control of the website in hand, I just had to show Mr. Wright up on his own job… (I’m joking of course). With my (flawless) week of website control I would be awarded with my second Business Student of the Month award, this time for the month of September. The next big thing that happened in my final year was a shift in job positions, as our lead ‘web designer’ moved halfway into the first quarter so Mr. Wright would then assign me to take over her position. The move wasn’t the most seamless thing in the world but eventually I got the job down pretty good to where I didn’t need any help. It feels like just yesterday I was sitting in Animate class as a first semester freshman and now I’m here, writing this article as a goodbye. Of course, Mr. Wright couldn’t go a year without our class, so he just decided to graduate with us, finally putting his accounting degree to use. I’ll miss the mornings and afternoons of sitting in Mr. Wright's classroom working on anything and everything to do with the website. I am extremely grateful for everything Mr. Wright has done for me and for the pleasure of getting to work on this nonstop project.

Much Needed Learning Curve

By Eden Gregg

I have learned so much in Mr. Wright's Web Design class. I think I actually learned more about sports in this class than I anticipated. This class is the reason I am going into Web Development as a career. I will miss this class very much. The part I love most about this class is everyone is dedicated to doing their work, even outside of class. Also, the fact that Mr. Wright practically handpicks his students; he makes sure they have the skills they need for this class. Everyone gets along in this class very well so that also contributed to wanting to come back again the next year. I think to people who want to take this class next year you have to actually want to work; we do stuff every day in this class and you have to be determined. Other than that, if you know a lot about sports, this class would be easy for you.

Saying Goodbye

By Genevieve Browning

Although my time in the Rocket Athletics class was short, I wouldn’t trade it for any other class. I was very hesitant to join the class so far into my senior year, especially in something that I had never done before. There was a lot of information in the beginning that was brand new to me, but over time I got the hang of it. I learned a lot about sports, even though I had to ask Mr. Wright a lot of questions. The whole class benefited me in many ways. I learned how to write sports articles, learned a bit of code, and got to see the behind the scenes of the website. One of the things I am most appreciative of though is how I got to take sports photos for the website. Having the opportunity to dive into different types of sports photography helped me build my portfolio as a photographer and gain experience. Plus having them posted in a public space helped my outreach as well. Altogether, the opportunities and memories that this class has given me are like no other. If you have the opportunity, take Web Design; you won’t regret it.