Stafford’s Story of Glory

Mr. Stafford is a biology and physics teacher here at Greenway. He has been teaching for 26 years, and is on his 3rd year here.

Mr. Stafford was born and lived in Tonganoxie, Kansas where he graduated with a 4.0 GPA. He attended Kansas University then after 2 years moved specifically to the School of Education at KU. He began working full time as a bartender at one of the busiest bars. This is when his passion for working in bars started to form.

He moved to Hermosa Beach, CA after graduation. His story starts at Hennessey’s Taverns where he worked for 8 years. He then was recruited by McCormick and Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant. After 2 years of working for them, he opened his own in Manhattan Beach and another is Las Vegas. He temporarily lived in Vegas while the restaurant was being built. After this, he was given a huge increase in pay and benefits to open a new concept for the company Darden Restaurants. He moved to Georgia opening 3; then to Florida to open 1.

After the hustle and bustle, he decide it was time for him to settle down. He bought a couple of houses here in Phoenix, then started to teach. He now has been teaching for 26 years.  About his high school teacher life, he has coached 50 different seasons. He has coached 25 Men’s Varsity Basketball, 10 Cross Country, 11 Varsity Golf, and 4 baseball. He also taught 4 basketball players that went on to play professionally, 2 people are still playing. He taught a couple of TV reporters, and 14 teachers who became full time teachers.

He has been married for over 30 years and has 2 kids. He has a daughter, Tatum, and a son, Trent. They are both very successful with Tatum travelling to over 25 countries and Trent selling commercial roofing. He is now officially a grandpa on August, 23rd of this year.

Mr. Stafford truly loves working here. As said by himself, “I truly enjoy coming to Greenway High School everyday because of the amazing science teachers I work with. They make work fun. I also love you guys. The students here at Greenway have a great attitude and sense of pride. You guys make teaching fun. It also makes me feel younger than 109 years old. ”

A quote Ms. O’Keeffe shared is, “Mr. Stafford is a dedicated educator who likes to have fun while still being passionate about the subjects he teaches.”

Ms. Ferguson shared her thoughts on Mr. Stafford, “He is like the best dad ever; he is hilarious and always very supportive.”

Teachers show real perseverance every single day. They come to school early, stay late grading papers, and still manage to care about each student. Even when we act like we don’t care, they don’t give up on us. They deal with so much stress but keep showing up with patience and dedication. Sometimes, they’re the only ones who believe in us when we don’t believe in ourselves. Their hard work might not always get noticed, but it truly makes a difference in our lives.