Most teachers go to college, get their masters and then start their teaching career. But for some teachers, the path to their first job isn’t always so straightforward. 

Mr. Metzger is a physics teacher at Victor Senior High School. He has been working in the district for 8 years. 

When Mr. Metzger was in high school, he played the trombone in the jazz band and the school musicals. He also swam for 8 years and golfed for fun. When it came to academics, physics wasn’t something he considered taking until choosing his schedule for his senior year. 

Once in college at Roberts Wesleyan, he was a nursing major. But after realizing that nursing wasn’t what he wanted to do, he switched to a physics major after loving his high school experience with it. He highlights that the reason he loves physics is because it, “tied in the math in describing real world phenomena that occur.” He also states that his college physics experiences allowed him to learn how to better teach himself subject matter and work independently.

Mr. Metzger’s college experience isn’t that of your typical teacher. He elaborates that college was very busy for him as he had an ROTC scholarship for the army. This required much extra time involving physical fitness training and early hours.

After college, Mr. Metzger graduated, he got his job at Victor; his first job. There, he teaches AP Physics 1 and AP Physics C.  He enjoys AP Physics C because it is a challenging course and he likes being able to apply the calculus learned in the math classes. By contrast, Mr. Metzger explains that he likes teaching AP Physics 1 because it includes many conceptual ideas.

But even his teaching experience has been out of the ordinary, as he had previously taken a year off in 2019 when he was deployed to Afghanistan.

Today, Mr. Metzger works for the Army National Guard as a helicopter pilot in a medical evacuation unit based out of the Rochester airport. He flies once a week after school and will occasionally fly on weekends. He says, “I love flying over the school and my house as often as I can for my kids to see me”.

Outside of school, Mr. Metzger enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, Clark, Rosie and Maci. In addition he also watches and roots for the Buffalo Bills. He also likes spending time outdoors participating in activities like running, hiking, skiing, hunting, and camping.