Orf off to teach at Lausanne High

After nine months of dedicated service, social studies teacher and Alumni Service Corp (ASC) volunteer Tyler Orf will depart St. Louis U. High.

After graduating from SLUH in 2004, Orf attended the University of Tulsa, where he obtained degrees in history and English. From there, he ventured into the business world, working at Anheuser-Busch for one year. However, it did not quite work out as planned.

“While working there, I realized I needed something to shift in my life,” said Orf.

Orf’s reasons for joining the ASC program were two-fold.

“I wanted to be able to give back to the Jesuit system of education that gave me so much, and I wanted to figure out if (teaching) was what I want to do with my life,” said Orf.

Apparently, it is. Beginning with the next school year, Orf will move to Memphis, Tenn., where he plans to teach government and economics classes at Lausanne High School.

“This year went really well,” said Orf. “I enjoyed it immensely, and I learned so much about who I am, and what it means to try and teach something to somebody.”

Orf added that one of the major things he learned this year was that one 45-minute period is not nearly enough time to teach something.

Contrary to what one might think, Orf said there was not much of an adjustment going from a student to a teacher at SLUH.

“The hardest part about it was definitely learning to call teachers by their first name,” said Orf.

“He was really easy to approach,” said freshman Matt Rudolf, who had Orf for Global History I. “He was really dedicated to his job, and it seemed like he wasn’t here for himself—he was here for others.”

“He managed the (lacrosse) team very well,” said freshman Justin Mayfield, whose team Orf coached.

In addition to teaching three sections of freshman Global History I, Orf coached C-lacrosse and assisted in freshman football and Student Council. He helped lead the Kairos and White House retreats, and supervised a Community Service Project site at Compton-Drew Middle School.

He has not ruled out a hypothetical third stay at SLUH. If in the future he is given the opportunity to teach here again, he would “definitely consider it.”