Teacher Feature: Leading by example

Three years ago, before Mr. Casey Towner became the Leadership teacher, he was simply a math teacher and the junior varsity (JV) baseball coach. And before that, he was a student. He even had Ms. Lynne Herring, journalism adviser, as his sophomore English teacher back in the day. He had diverse groups of friends, played both football and baseball, participated in yearbook and was a leadership student.

After graduating from Armijo High School, he attended Chico State University, which he referred to as “the best college, Harvard of the west.”

Now as an adult, he has a lot going on. He teaches math, coaches varsity baseball and is learning the ropes as the new leadership advisor, serving the school as the Activities Director. “I was really excited to get the job here,” said Mr. Towner. “My old principal was actually encouraging me to become a teacher here.”

Mr. Towner believes that the best way to become a good teacher is to care about the students, build relationships with them, and create a comfortable environment for them.

Surprisingly, Mr. Towner does have a life outside of school. He likes to do sports and play video games during his free time.

Overall, Mr. Towner enjoys working at Armijo and plans to stay here for several years, until he retires. His goal is to do more than just run events. Instead, he explained that he is here to make the school and community a better place. “It’s honestly tough to have 160 students in one class, but at the same time they are there for the right reasons… it’s definitely very rewarding working with those students,” he said.