Mr. Ahnert: Beloved Unleashed Advisor and BHS Humanities Teacher

Mr. Ahnert, BHS humanities teacher of eight years, has been the backbone and mastermind behind many of Unleashed’s greatest ideas, although you may not have even known. Mr. Ahnert, as the club’s advisor, never fails to support the operation of the club, and we must give credit where it is due. Without Mr. Ahnert, BHS Unleashed, truly, would not be the proud club it is today, and our amazing website would not be functional or even existent. We, as Unleashed members, are beyond grateful for Mr. Ahnert’s commitment to us. This is our dedication to you, Mr. Ahnert…

For those of you who are thinking, “I don’t know who that teacher is at all,” or maybe you have battled through a tough humanities class with Mr. Ahnert as teacher in the past, regardless of who you may know Mr. Ahnert to be, let’s turn back the clock to when Mr. Ahnert was a child growing up in a small village in Upstate New York, playing trombone in the high school band.

Mr. Ahnert grew up in a small village in New York called Scotia. Here, Mr. Ahnert was a trombone-player of Scotia-Glenville High School’s band and jazz band. The high school band was where Mr. Ahnert found a home and friends who have shaped him in to who he is today. Band teacher, Allison Atchley, was one of his biggest role models growing up. Similar to BHS advisories, the band all collectively shared Atchley’s homeroom. Mr. Ahnert explains that Atchley was a personal mentor to him, and that she “united us, and welcomed us all. It [the band] was our home. Throughout the day, if you wanted to go check in and know that things were okay, you could go talk to Miss Atchley. She would welcome you into her offices because that was where we belonged.” Alongside band, Mr. Ahnert participated in his school’s fall dramas and spring musicals. Today, he is still very in touch with his musical and artistic side.

Looking back on his childhood, Mr. Ahnert remembers his precious time at summer camp. At summer camp, Mr. Ahnert made life-long friends and found a role model that he still is in contact with today, Kent Busman, the director of the camp. Kent Busman, as he works with kids and is a leader, plays an important role in Mr. Ahnert’s treasured memories and inspiration for becoming a teacher. One specific memory of Mr. Ahnert’s time spent in summer camp was when he was first made an SIT, a staff in training. He went to the SIT training weekend where he got to discover things that were important to him and even met a good friend that he is still in contact with today. Mr. Ahnert says that, “all of my inspirations for teaching are tied up to my memories from summer camp. It [Mr. Ahnert’s position as an SIT] was one of my first leadership positions and still drives who I am now.”

For college education, Mr. Ahnert attended SUNY Oswego in Oswego, New York where he received his bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and mass communication. Mr. Ahnert went to attend the University of New Haven in Connecticut to receive his master’s degree of education, focusing on elementary education.

When asked about a message of advise for seniors applying to college, Mr. Ahnert states:

“The real education you are going to get when you go to college is working with other people that you don’t know to get things done, facing pressure when you don’t get to go home and have your parents help you with that pressure, but rather have it all be on you. That’s just the nature of getting out there. Find a place you feel good doing that.”

Mr. Ahnert’s very first school that he attended before SUNY Oswego was Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York. At Ithaca, he was able to find important lessons about college. Mr. Ahnert explains that he did not regret initially attending Ithaca because he was able to figure things out and eventually find a better fit for himself. Having gone through this experience, Mr. Ahnert advises students that “you don’t have to have it all figured out right now.”

At home, Mr. Ahnert has a 10-year-old cat named Jack and is a die-hard Weezer fan, a rock band from the nineties. His favorite food is a “good ole American hamburger with crunchy onion straws, and maybe a little BBQ sauce” because “you just can’t go wrong” with that.

If Mr. Ahnert was embodied by a type of fruit, he would be a banana. He explains, “there is something inside of the the peel; there is something soft and mushy and not necessarily what presents itself on the outside, but is valuable just the same.”

It is no suprise that as the BHS Unleashed advisor, if Mr. Ahnert had to be anything other than a teacher, he would be a writer if he could. Mr. Ahnert says,

“I still haven’t figured out what to write about. Too many things fascinate me to concentrate for any one gap of time. There’s too many things that I’m interested, so that’s what always brings me back to being a teacher where you get to explore a lot of stuff.”

With Mr. Ahnert’s passion for writing and for teaching, he is a great fit for the Unleashed advisor position. His leadership qualities learned from summer camp and the influence and mentor-ship of his childhood role models, has made Mr. Ahnert into the teacher and acquaintance he is today.

Bedford High School’s Humanities teacher, Mr. Ahnert, you are an awesome addition to the BHS community. Know that we appreciate you…