James Triesler:
CLASS OF 1981
Kennedy High SchoolClass of 1981
Silver spring, MD
James's Story
My wife Liz and I moved to Chesterfield, Virginia (just south of Richmond) in 1989. I received a Masters Degree in Secondary Education and have been teaching high school history since 1992. We have an eleven year old son named Jonathan and I have been the manager of his baseball teams since he was five. My Mom, Brother Rick, and Sister-in-law Linda, live near us in Chesterfield. My Dad died in 2005. I teach adult Sunday School at a local Presbyterian Church. I have had a wonderful teaching career and have come to know many fantastic students. In 2001 I was given the opportunity to create my own history class and now I teach four sections of Historical Research and Technology. My students have won the state research award from the Virginia Historical Society for three of the past four years. Eight of my students have been recognized for their essays on WWII by the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. I have also had several Blanton Scholars and a Never Again Essay Award winner for her essay on Genocide. In 2007 we won a Save Our History Award from the History Channel for our website on World War II. Also in 2007 I was the recipient of a ten thousand dollar award which took me to Europe to study World War II. I was the Chesterfield County Teacher of the Year in 2007 and I went on to become the State of Virginia Region 1 Teacher of the Year. Last year I was named the Teacher of the Year by the Virginia Historical Society and also the National Teacher of the Year by the Sons of the American Revolution. This year I was named the regional Teacher of the Year by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. I also participated as a mentor in the Teachers of Promise Institute at James Madison University. I am an associate member of the Veterans of the Battle of t...Expand for more
he Bulge and I attend their national conferences whenever possible. I have become much better at "high school" than I was in 1981 and wish that I knew then, all that I know now. Although I have lived in Virginia for over twenty years, I still think of myself as being from Maryland. I finally gave up on the Baltimore Orioles and I now cheer for the Washington Nationals. I still get upset when the Redskins don't play well, but luckily that is only once a week. My wife is from New Jersey and she likes the Yankees and the New York Giants. My son chose to be neutral and he pulls for the Colts and the Cubs. Now, some random thoughts: I still feel bad for all those evenings in high school, when driving anywhere with friends, that I insisted that the Orioles be on the radio. I also hate that I smelled like cigarette smoke during high school, but hey, that wasn't my fault. Mr. Lombardi is still my favorite teacher from Kennedy, but that is only because I still have not been able to figure out Mr. Walker. And having lived with eighteen years of bells at work, I really miss the JFK radio station. To this day I print neatly because of Mr. Nicklow. I still think that Mary Kelly, Tammy Reed, Sarah Thompson, Diane Feifarek, and Robyn McKirgan are going to TP my house someday. And every year on May 18, I tell my students that this is the anniversary of when my first girlfriend, Kris Z., dumped me. They always say, how do you remember that? I tell them that remembering dates is the curse of being a history teacher. Well, now you know everything about me, except that I have a cat named Cassie Arielle Triesler. She greats me at the door everyday when I get home from work. I really should remember to feed her in the morning. And if you see Mary, tell her I said....
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