Teacher Retiring, Plans Move to Foreign Classroom

Though science teacher Gary Stresman plans to retire this school year after 27 years at , his days of leading a classroom are far from over.

Next fall, Stresman and his wife Kathy, a former guidance counselor in the Maple Dale-Indian Hill School District, plan on moving to Thailand to accept teaching positions. Stresman will continue to concentrate on science at the private American-English teaching school on the east coast of Thailand.

"What drew my wife and I was a friend of ours and former teacher at Nicolet, Dan Knoebel. He has been at the exact school for three years and would always communicate to us about how great the culture and opportunity was," Stresman said.

Stresman, 55, and his wife plan on spending at least five years oversees in Thailand teaching and exploring the culture, but the support from the community and his colleagues is something that Stresman said he always will remember and cherish.

Stresman — an Ottawa, Ontario, native — graduated from Minnesota State University-Mankato with the intention of pursing a career in the biology field. However, teaching came knocking on his door.

Stresman's teaching career begin 32 years ago in his alma mater home state of Minnesota, and brought him to Randolph High School in Wisconsin before finally settling down in Brown Deer and Nicolet High School for the last 27 years. 

"When my wife and I met, the reputation of Nicolet High School and the area made it a great place to raise a family," Stresman said.

Over his time at Nicolet High School, Stresman held many different responsibilities, including the director of the Nicolet science fair. This also gave him the opportunity to accompany students such as Stephen Steiner III in 2000 to the National Science fair; Steiner was awarded for his work in National Aeronautics and Space Administration and also received an all expense-paid trip to attend the U.S. Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.

"The success that Steiner and other students have had with the science fair is something I find memorable," Stresman said.

For six years, Stresman was also president of the Nicolet teachers union. The recent changes by the Wisconsin government and Act 10 had little to do with his decision to leave, he said.

In 2011, newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker passed Act 10, which directly cut out the process of collective bargaining for public sector workers in the state of Wisconsin. Stresman and teachers across the state were forced to take a step back and reevaluate their career as teachers.

"My history in working with the negotiations of teacher contracts, it was extremely frustrating to see the election of one governor to completely change how the system functioned," Stresman said.

Instead, Stresman said the only thing on his mind when deciding to retire was being pension eligible and looking for new opportunities.

"Teaching at Nicolet, was a pleasure because of the diversity and high standards, and that is something my wife and I are looking forward to in Thailand," Stresman said.