Teacher Spotlight: Mr. Petschauer

For the first ever Long Beach High School teacher spotlight, Emma and I decided to interview Mr. Petschauer. Over two years, he’s been our IB Anthropology HL teacher and he’s made an unforgettable impact on us: from the didgeridoo he brought in last year, to pausing a movie to point out the volcano near his friend Greg’s house, and all the episodes of Idiot Abroad in between. Maybe the influx of people taking Anthro this year was due to a foreseeable pattern in enrollment, or maybe it was because all of his students love the class so much they told all their friends to take it, too.

If you’ve ever wondered what Mr. P’s greatest fear is or thought to yourself: What's so great about Phish anyway? then this interview is for you!

Emma: Alright! How did you become a teacher at LBHS?

Mr. Petschauer: Uh…

Emma: (Laughing) How did you end up here?

Mr. Petschauer: How did I end up here… Okay, so how did I become a teacher: so, I applied to a lot of schools, a lot of different schools, when I was looking to become a teacher and then I got a call back from Long Beach. The person that was in charge of social studies at the time, Mr. Hurley, called me in. I did my demo lesson for him and a few of the vice principals because there were no students in the building at the time. Um, I ended up going to Australia and then I got an email from admin that I got a job here and I came back and started working here!

I was planning on coming back early from my vacation in Australia because I just got my masters degree so I was gonna maybe try to find a job in the city. But I didn't have to worry about that - got a job here. So yeah it was one of the first, you know, few places that I applied so I actually got really lucky in getting a job right out of my masters degree.

Gabby: What do you teach, and do you like it?

Mr. Petschauer: So I currently teach IB Anthropology: I love it. It is my favorite thing that I have taught here. I've taught pretty much every social studies class in the high school, with the exception of, like, the AP classes and, um… nope, I’ve taught economics also. So yeah! So, uh, but no, I love teaching Anthropology. I love teaching seniors and juniors. We can have real conversations and talk about real stuff, and yeah. I really love teaching Anthropology.

Emma: What’s your favorite memory from Long Beach High School?

Mr. Petschauer: (Sigh) That's a good question… Um… I don't know if I could pinpoint one favorite memory. You know, every year: different classes, different memories, so it's hard to just pick one, although, I feel like when I look back on everyone that graduates I feel like everyone graduated last year. So it's always hard to differentiate between everyone. But yeah, every year new memories are traded, and I miss every graduating class as we go on for the last eighteen or nineteen years that I've been here.

Gabby: What's your least favorite memory of LBHS?

Mr. Petschauer: Um, there used to be a lot of fights in the building. That was not fun. (Laughs) But no, I mean, most of the stuff here has been very positive, very good. I think I’ve always had a good relationship with my students, so I don't really have many… bad memories of here? Sometimes a lot of work (chuckling), you know, but yeah, no bad memories, per se. Everything is usually very good and I always look forward to connecting with students that have graduated, or seeing the juniors coming back when they become my seniors in class. So yeah, I can't pinpoint any bad memories or least favorite memories here. Maybe the worst thing is when you guys graduate each year. You know, I love the end of the year, because I can't wait for summer-

Gabby and Emma: Yeah.

Mr. Petschauer: But I hate the end of the year because I’m gonna miss you guys as you go on to bigger and better things beyond Long Beach High School. That's good. You can put that in there. (All laughing)

Emma: And then what's your main goal when it comes to your students? Like, what's the impact you want to leave on them?

Mr. Petschauer: Just that… everyone leaves here a better person than they came into class. You’ll learn a little bit about anthropology which is wonderful, but you also learn about life, and how to, you know… be citizens in the world that we’re living in and how to handle yourselves and all the different cultures, and people, and groups that you’ll come across. Hopefully Anthropology sort of opens your eyes to a bigger world outside of Long Beach, and that there's more than just the beach and hanging out in Long Beach and stuff like that. And that you see that there's a bigger world out there, and, you know, more to life than just what you have here.

There are people who have good lives outside of here and there are people that suffer also, and that you guys can recognize that there's a whole bunch of different ways that people live (outside of the high school).

Gabby: If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?

Mr. Petschauer: Good question. Well… if I could go anywhere, I would go to Manchester to see Manchester United play in England. That would probably be the first stop. I would love to go to Japan for vacation. Or maybe, um… I would love to go back to Australia again. That was an amazing place. Just travel. Anywhere. I would like to- you know what I would like to do? I would like to buy a, like, “world round-trip” ticket, where I would just travel around the world. That's what I would like to do. And just stop wherever I want to stop. But specifically Manchester in England to see Manchester United play.

Gabby: Are you going to the World Cup?

Mr. Petschauer: You know, I just saw about that stuff! I would love to go to the World Cup. That would be something that I would definitely-

Emma: In New Jersey-

Mr. Petschauer: Yeah, yeah, the final’s gonna be in New Jersey, so that's pretty awesome. I think they're having, like, eight or ten games at Metlife stadium and then they're gonna-

Gabby: There’s some in Boston, also.

Mr. Petschauer: Yep, they’re gonna play in Boston, they’re gonna play in Philadelphia, so, hopefully. When it was here in 1992 or 1994, I was only, like, twelve. So I was a little young for that. But I wanted to go then and I remember my parents going Oh yeah, we’ll go, and then we never went. We watched it on TV. But um, yeah, I would love to go to the world cup when it comes here.

Emma: Mhm. Deepest darkest secret?

Gabby and Emma: (Laughing)

Mr. Petschauer: (Laughing) That’s a good question… Let’s see, deepest darkest secret… I like a lot of junk food? (Laughing) Secretly. At night, like, I love to eat late at night, like, at ten o’clock. (All laughing)

Gabby: Oh my God, I don't know if we can include that. That's pretty crazy.

Mr. Petschauer: I know, I know, I know. It gets pretty wild over here. Especially on the weekends: watch out! (Laughing) No, I- I teach yoga? Outside of being a schoolteacher? I don't know, I don't really have any deep, dark secrets. Um, I go to a lot of concerts. A lot of music concerts. But you guys all know that. I don't really have any secrets from you guys. Maybe other teachers, but you guys know all of my deepest secrets, I think.

Gabby: What's your worst fear?

Mr. Petschauer: Um… I don't love heights. Yeah. And snakes. I don't really love snakes, either. Reptiles, snakes… I’m sure more will come out as I think about them, but heights and reptiles, we’ll go with that.

Emma: Do you have any advice for-

Mr. Petschauer: (Quietly) I’m like Indiana Jones.

Emma: Any advice for college students, or anyone in general?

Mr. Petschauer: Sure! Go to class. Make sure you go to class because college is expensive. Um, yeah, go to class, get the most out of your education, enjoy your time in class but also enjoy your time socially when you’re in college, meet a lot of new people… but definitely go to class. Go to class.

Gabby: What is your favorite band and why?

Mr. Petschauer: That's a loaded question. My favorite band is Phish: I like that it’s always different. Every show is a different experience, you're never going to get the same thing twice. You never know what you’re walking into. It's never, you know, the same setlist, or the same concert: it's always gonna be, like, a new experience every time you go see them. So its always changing, always evolving. I like that, like, live feel to it. Same with sports, you know: you never know what's gonna happen at a sports game, because it hasn't happened yet. The same is true with Phish: you never know what’s gonna happen because they haven't played yet, so it's always something changing.

Emma: So what's your favorite movie or genre?

Mr. Petschauer: Um, I like action movies a lot. Or comedies are great also. Any action-comedies are sort of my favorite things, I don't know if that's a genre, but um… currently I like Reacher, I don't know if you’ve seen Reacher, on Amazon? It was good. Or any true crime stuff I’m starting to get into a lot more now, so I like that as well. Things that get you thinking, or that make you laugh, you know, take your mind off of what's going on; from day to day stuff.

We would like to thank Mr. Petschauer for taking the time to answer our questions! See you at the next teacher spotlight…