It is with a sad heart that Port Angeles High School bids farewell to Mr. John T. Winn, one of the current technical drawing and world history teachers. Mr. Winn has accepted a job teaching as the shop teacher at Stevens Middle School and will no longer continue teaching here at the high school. Mr. Winn began teaching at the high school in 2007 following the closure of Roosevelt Elementary School, beginning an illustrious career spanning five years. Mr. Winn’s real passion has always been building things in shop. Every job has its hazards and years of working with extremely loud machinery has left Mr. Winn with his trademark hearing aids, a recognizable feature for anyone who has met him.

On his own departure, Mr. Winn had this to say, “No one is indispensable, while I like to think I’ve helped teach kids, even if I leave there will be someone equally qualified to take my place.” However to some, Mr. Winn is not indispensable and will be hard to replace. Apparently Mr. Winn feels the same way because as he puts it, “The thing I will miss the most is my advisory, we’ve been together for two and a half years and I was really looking forward to walking with them at graduation next year.”

However, since Mr. Winn is leaving behind an advisory of at least 13 juniors, Port Angeles High School is pleased to bestow the title (at least temporarily) on Mr. Mark Van Rossen. The new teacher will be substituting in for Mr. Winn’s other classes such as advisory and world history until the end of the semester and a final decision can be reached. Mr. Winn’s advisory class has currently dubbed Mr. Van Rossen as “New Guy.” The Computer Assisted Design (CAD) classes and the technical drawing classes will be handed over to Mr. Mitchell.

While we say so long to a teacher, one can only hope that the lessons Mr. Winn has taught over the years will remain forever in the minds of his students. Ten years from now when an architect is laying down the blueprints for a building, he/she will think of Mr. Winn. When a father is explaining the medieval period to his kids, he will recall Mr. Winn.

I (Robert A.W. Stephens (11)) have known Mr. Winn from the first day I crawled in the door from the 400 hall as a freshman. Immediately we developed banter and I admire Mr. Winn for his tenacity, sportsmanship and most of all his unwavering desire to inspire young minds. I will miss my advisor of three years, but I want Mr. Winn to know how much people cared about him.

If you see Mr. Winn around, take the time to thank him for taking an interest in your education and his years of dutiful service to the school and its students. One can only hope that someday Mr. Winn may return to PAHS, but one can find solace that he is still teaching and still helping the younger generation.

Goodbye Mr. Winn, you will be missed.