Before settling down as teachers, Business teacher and DECA advisor Ryan Norwood, Automotive Technology teacher Ryan Arnold, and Automotive Technology teacher Norman Lawrence all led interesting lives. From going to high school on an Army base in Japan, to being in the Army and the National Guard, to being a firefighter for 21 years, these are the adventures they explored before teaching. 

Before his time as business teacher and DECA advisor, Norwood spent his sophomore through senior years in an Army base in Okinawa, Japan. 

“My dad was in the Navy, so we were stationed there,” Norwood said, “You’d think of it as a small U.S. town.” 

Unlike most American high schools, Norwood’s school was small; having a total of 700 kids in his school and being in the bigger of Department of Defense high schools.

“It was a little different. I played baseball, and tennis. We didn’t have DECA, but I was a Boy Scout and so I had all that stuff.”

One of his favorite things that he would do with his family is scuba diving. After the World War 2 battle on the island, Norwood and his family enjoyed viewing the different shells and other fascinating things from the wreckage.

“There are still a bunch of reefs and tons of old shells, wrecks, and other cool stuff that you can go see when you dive,” Norwood said. “Our weekends and bond adventures would be to go diving.”

Some of his other favorite memories included going off base with his Japanese friends and going exploring.

“It was super different,” Norwood said. “I would not trade it for anything. I made some good buddies and had such amazing memories there. At first it was hard, especially transferring to a new high school sophomore year. I’m leaving all my friends I grew up [with] in Virginia. It was tough, but I made some amazing friends there [and I] had great memories.”

When the time came to go back home and leave Japan behind, he also had to leave the friends and classmates that he made along the way. Even with the heartbreak of not being able to see his new found friends again, he says he would do it again. 

“One thing that was tough is after high school [how] our families are all from all over the country,” Norwood said. “It wasn’t like we all lived in Austin, so I had some friends that lived in California and some that lived in Minnesota, Virginia, all over the place. When we went to our colleges, I didn’t get to see them as much. That was one thing that’s a bit of a bummer, but I don’t think I would trade it because of the memories and the full experience.”

From serving in the military, to becoming an Autotech teacher of 16 years, Arnold spent three years in the active military in the Army, then transferred to the National Guard while he went back to college. 

“I did not re-enlist because I wanted to go to Germany and they said that they were overstrength, so I decided to go to the National Guard while I went back to college.” 

While the bad memories start to fade away and the good ones stick out more and more, Arnold’s favorite memory would have to be the connections he made while on active duty.

“I am still involved in some of the connections friend wise, although they are all over the country, we still talk, and get together to reminisce about the times that have passed,” Arnold said. 

The reason for him enlisting was to earn money to support his family and for school. After realizing that he didn’t want to be an accountant any more, Arnold took the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB). 

“[The recruiter] told me, in a few years, we’ll pay for the rest of your school [and] you’ll get the chance to reset and figure out what you want to do and that is the path I live,” Arnold said. “If I chose a different path, I don’t know where I’d be, and I’m happy with where I’m at right now, so I am happy with the path I chose.” 

Arnold did not see himself as a teacher once he was done serving in the military, but marrying into a family full of teachers and educators when his family started to teach, he would be a big repeller, which started to get boring and repetitive. But, the most exciting part for him would be to teach others how to do things.

“I enjoy teaching people new things,” Arnold said. “When you do automotive, even if people don’t want to be a mechanic, you need brakes on your car, or things like that.” 

Because of his time in the Army, he has experienced hearing loss. Although this could have affected the outlook he had in life, he did not let that determine his love and passion for teaching. 

Lawrence, who has had the longest teaching career out of the three, also had 21 years of experience as a firefighter; moving to different positions such as team leader, responding to terrorism threats at Homeland Security, and training people in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Explosive and Nuclear Responses (CBR&E). Another task that Lawrence did during his time was to re-equip different areas in order to protect them from new threats.

“I wrote to several Kants to acquire new equipment for the fire department,” Lawrence said. “We re-equipped the Special Operations Division of Homeland Security with new equipment to respond to terrorism threats, especially white powder anthrax, or sarin gas threats.“  

When he was done with the higher operations, such as the terrorism response team, Lawrence started to settle at regular operations, and finally at the Austin Bram Airport. 

“I spent time at Stations 29, 32, 43, 17, Central Station downtown,” Lawrence said. “Then I finally started to get injured and tired because I was getting older. I got an invitation to go be a fireman out at Austin Bram Airport, so I became certified to respond to aircraft emergencies throughout Travis County and all surrounding counties.“

With all these experiences however, one of Lawrence’s favorite memories is the connection with the other firefighters and the bond that they formed in order to become like a family.

“The fire station becomes another home,” Lawrence said. “The people you work with, who your life depends on vice versa, you become like family. More or less, that is my favorite part. These people you could trust to do their best to keep you out of harm’s way or save you if you became harmed.”

With him retiring from the firefighting life four years ago, he decided to start his second dream of becoming a teacher. 

“I remember graduating [and] when I was leaving a graduation party, I thought, I would love to teach one day,“ Lawrence said. “I always told myself when I retired from the fire department, I would teach, so here I am.“ 

Owning four auto repair shops, when his friend Arnold called him to tell him that there was an opening in the automotive department, he took it without a second thought. 

“All the automotive draw came from being involved not only working on cars, but actually being part of the industry.” Lawrence said.

With the diverse backgrounds of teachers, some people forget that fact and think that they’re whole life was just about teaching. So maybe if people think that teachers aren’t “fun” or teaching isn’t a “cool” job, ask them what they did before, and then they’ll see all the cool adventures they got up to. But in the end, none of these teachers would want to change the path they chose.