Tim (“Schutz”) Schutzenhofer is an Essential Skills teacher through the Special School District at Hazelwood West. Schutz has been teaching at West for seven years, along with coaching the boy’s and girls’ soccer teams. Schutz is an alumnus of Hazelwood West and loves teaching here because he gets to see his old friends’ siblings go through high school.

Back in high school, Schutz played baseball and soccer, he was a center fielder and a defensive mid but soccer was always his number one sport. After high school, Schutz decided to go to tryouts for the Xavier Soccer team. They told him they had four walk-on spots and a goalie was one of the positions they had available so he decided he was going to try out for that. Schutz was very unfamiliar with being a goalie because he had only ever played goalie a couple of times. After tryouts were over he was told he made the team, he played and got better at goalie but during one preseason game his coaches decided to put him back at defensive mid and he got injured which ended his soccer career. 

Before becoming a teacher, Schutz worked for Tide. He worked there while the Tide Pod challenge was going around, so his workload consisted of taking down all of the posts of people doing the challenge. 

He had no intentions of being a teacher; he thought he was set working an office job for the rest of his life. That was until he started talking to his mom about teaching and she helped him get a job teaching Essential Skills. His mom was a huge part in the start up of the Special School District and really helped him in getting a teaching job.

Schutz, being one of the few who came back to their roots to teach here, said the school has undergone so many changes.

“When I went to school here all of it was under construction, and actually having an athletic facility with the new turf field and all the renovations is really cool to experience.” Schutz said. 

Schutz may not have ended up where he initially planned to, but he says he wouldn’t change a thing. He’s loved by all of his students and greatly appreciated by Hazelwood West.

”I enjoy teaching here as it gives me the opportunity to impact the students I work with in a similar way the teachers I had when I was here impacted me. I hope to help students realize and meet their goals and being here affords me the opportunity to do so.”