Most Victor students have been here since kindergarten, but for me, this is my first year here. 

One thing that I was thinking about when moving to this school from Montana was the wrestling program because of my past history in the sport. No one would have thought that a senior girl would be so interested in a male dominated sport or even be curious about the program. 

The sport of wrestling is an individual success sport but when you are a part of the team, the passion and the love for eachother really starts to show. 

We can see this passion for the sport from Mr. Kaper, the head coach of the Victor Wrestling team. As soon as he started to talk about wrestling he got a big smile on his face and seemed proud to be the coach. 

From a young age Mr. Kaper was always trying to get involved with wrestling, from his youth PE class to joining the high school team. He has been a part of the wrestling family since he was 12 years old and hasn’t taken a day off since then. 

During the years, the program has grown exponentially. From winning the sectional championship in 2013, to their annual tournament where they represent a well known coach from Victor. The boys love the team and the coaches love what they do. 

Mr. Kaper stated that he is very excited for the upcoming season and that he has an amazing returning group of boys that have made it to states in the past season that he is eager to see shine out on the mats this year. 

With that being said, wrestling is not the only thing that he is passionate about; his biggest passion is English and getting to interact with his students everyday. 

He fell in love with English with the help of his elementary English teacher at Marion. As a kid he experienced a divorce of his parents. This was a very hard time for him because the concept of not having his parents together anymore was something no kid will quite understand. 

It made him a very angry kid. With this built up anger over the divorce it led to him writing a book where he talked about the point of views of kids with divorced parents. His English teacher read what he wrote and went and published it as a book for everyone to read. 

He knew at that moment that he wanted to be a teacher because not only did he love English but he wanted to be exactly like his elementary teacher and help kids through their struggles. 

Mr. Kaper has been a teacher for 25 years and has been the English teacher at Victor for 18. His classroom is very welcoming and there is never a dull moment. He brings his passion into teaching and makes learning fun. 

I went and asked his students that are in his class or have had him as a teacher before and I got the same answer every time “Mr. Kaper is one of the best teachers I have had.” They talked about how he is understanding and makes everyone feel equal while also bringing excitement into the classroom. 

We see him as a loving teacher and wrestling coach, but that is only a small part of who he is. He is a loving father and brother. 

He spends his weekends outside with his boys playing baseball or outdoors enjoying nature. He loves to hike and climb or even sit home with his boys and watch sports or play games. 

Mr. Kaper is an excellent teacher, a strong wrestling coach, and a loving father. I just met him but I can tell that he loves what he does and is very passionate about his team and family.