Wayne Boudreau has been a special education teacher at De Pere High School for 24 years. After 30 years of teaching, he plans to retire as a full-time teacher at the end of 2024-2025 school year.
Q: What is the best part about teaching at De Pere?
A: I enjoy working with the students. It’s why I do it. It’s the best part of the job. I really enjoy the staff. They are generally very supportive.
Q: What will you miss most about De Pere High School and the community?
A: The interaction with teachers and the positive interactions I have with the kids because I enjoy that. I try to have fun while teaching kids and help them enjoy this place, because that’s huge.
Q: You were thinking about retiring for a while. Why did you choose this year?
A: I had back surgery, so that kind of changed my plans in terms of what I was going to do in retirement.
Q: What do you plan to do more during your retirement?
A: Do some hobbies and probably work part-time doing something. I enjoy doing wood-working. I like to exercise as long as I stay healthy, and I want to travel.
Q: In your experience, have kids changed in the way they behave or interact?
A: In general, kids haven’t changed all that much, but one of the things that does impact their behavior is technology. There’s been a significant increase in social and emotional difficulties that kids are facing in the last decade.
Q: Overall, have you enjoyed your job and working with students?
A: I think that it was, in a large sense, fulfilling. There were definitely some frustrations, but I think you have that with any profession.
