HOME | FEATURES | DEPARTMENTS | CLASS NOTES | BACK ISSUES | OHIO FRONT DOOR

 

More Bobcat Tracks Back-to-school time They helped light the way Class Notes 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s     To submit a class note click here to fill out our online form.

David Metz had given up on his dream. For 31 years, he had worked in several capacities at West Jefferson (Ohio) High School, teaching government and serving as assistant principal, football coach and athletic director. "I've been everything but chief cook," he jokes. Still, on title eluded him.     David Metz with students at West Jefferson High School. Metz, BSED '71, retired last year after deciding the job of high school principal would never be his. He even accepted a position with the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Yet shortly after the school year ended, Metz learned the principal's position was, indeed, coming open again. He jumped at the opportunity. "It's the only position I would've taken," he says. "If it were any other job, any other school, I wouldn't have done it. West Jefferson has been my home for 31 years." As principal, Metz's goals include making sure his high school meets tougher new state requirements and instilling a greater sense of responsibility in today's students. He says he enjoys talking with students and attending a variety of school activities, including concerts, plays and sports events. The hardest part of being a principal, he says, is dealing with discipline matters and, in extreme cases, expelling students. But in spite of such trials, Metz is happy to be sitting in the office he dreamed of occupying for so long. Metz lives in West Jefferson, Ohio, with his wife, Cheryl. They have three grown children: James, BS '96; Brooke; and Leigh Ann. --Sarah Welch