In a recent move, the school hired a new physical education (PE) teacher Craig Suhre to fill a position teaching sophomores.

Suhre has been an assistant coach for the football and baseball teams since 2009 and graduated from Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in December.

Suhre graduated from the high school in 2006 and enrolled at CCSU that fall.  However, he started to second guess his career choice, withdrew from the university and began working full-time in a machine shop where he learned to become a machinist. A new opportunity would cause Suhre to change his course once again.

“During my time working, I was given the opportunity by Mr. Machol to be an assistant football coach at a local high school where he was starting a new program.  It was throughout this time coaching I began to regret my decision of leaving the teaching program at CCSU. It was through this time coaching I really decided to go back to school to become a teacher,” Suhre said.

Suhre’s communication skills and ability to work with students were what convinced Machol to hire him as a football assistant.

“Coach Suhre was a sophomore when I started teaching in Farmington.  I coached him in football, and I was his cooperating teacher when he was a senior in the education internship program where he did extremely well, so I knew that he had the personality and skills necessary to teach and the background knowledge in football,” Machol said.

Suhre decided to start taking classes at Tunxis Community College during the spring of 2010 where he completed all of his general studies. He then transferred back to CCSU where he took classes part-time until he was able to earn a Bachelors of Science in Education specifically in PE with a cross endorsement in Health and Wellness.

 “I am excited to start my career right back where it started here at FHS. I look forward to working with an extremely talented and fun PE department [staff], many of which I actually had as teachers when I attended school here,” Suhre said.

Sophomore Dante Colagiovanni has known Suhre as a coach and a teacher and has enjoyed both experiences.

“[Suhre] makes the classes fun while teaching us and keeping us under control. Even though we have a 20 plus student class and half of the old gym, he still finds a way to do his job. Mr. Suhre was my coach for football and baseball; however, he treats me just like the rest of the class. He is an awesome teacher,” Colagiovanni said.

Freshman Cole Wolkner has learned many lessons from Suhre as an athlete and believes that his perseverance is attributed to those lessons.

“I think Suhre is a great coach and a great motivator. When I played under coach Suhre, whether it was wrestling or football, he kept me on task and has helped me to improve drastically as an athlete. Whenever I was having trouble, he was right there with me coaching me through it, and when I was succeeding, he was also there, congratulating me and helping me further improve to have more success at whatever I was doing,” Wolkner said.