As Montana receives a flood of new people from all over the country, we meet one more new person. A new teacher at Helena Highschool is Mr. Schommer, who is a government and social studies. He came to us from Wisconsin, where he attended University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where he studied education, history, and social studies.  

“My first year of college I knew I wanted to go into a profession where I am interacting with other people. I was leaning towards Education, but it wasn’t until the ending of my freshman year that I committed to becoming a teacher,” Schommer said. He was influenced by his love of working with young people came from several jobs he had during high school, including camp counseling and coaching. 

There, he received a Bachelors of Science for History and Broad Social Studies Education. He also ran cross country and track all throughout college, except for his final year because of Covid. “That is where a lot of my fond memories are. I was blessed enough to gain the achievements of First Team All-Conference, All-Region, and race at a national meet. Due to COVID-19, sadly my last season of eligibility was cancelled and had my entire last year and a half of college without racing,“ Schommer said.   

It is his first teaching job since he is right out of college. Schommer said his teaching experience has been affected by COVID-19. “I student taught in the spring where it was mostly in a setting of online learning and then hybrid,” he said. He described the Helena High School staff as very supportive. “Helena High School is a great place to be. The teachers are very supportive to each other and passionate of their jobs.” The students have also been very cooperative and willing to learn. Part of his enjoyment of teaching comes from helping students learn and grow. 

Being new to Helena High and Montana gives him a lot of new perspective.about Helena and Montana as a whole. He really enjoys getting out and trail running, so being so close to such a big trail system has helped keep him active. He also feels that the people in Helena are very kind and helpful. Outside of work, Schommer says he “will play board games [and] card games with [his] friends. I will watch Netflix when I just want to relax and do nothing.”  

Our newest addition to the Helena Avenue hallway is someone who will push himself to help you learn and push himself to the next mile marker. Hi Mr. Schommer, welcome to Helena High!