After leaving Perry three years ago, former health teacher and coach Adam Schiermyer made his return to the desert this summer. Now the school’s AVID teacher, he is assisting in coaching the varsity football team and will return to his position as the head freshman baseball coach in the spring.

Because of Schiermyer’s past experience of teaching at Perry, he was an easy hire for principal Dan Serrano and over the summer started training for his new position.

Serrano explained that “AVID has standards that you are supposed to comply with,” and that the goal of AVID is to “help kids do the things they need to do [to go to] college.” He also shared that “there are certain qualifications” for students to get into AVID.

To a majority of the AVID students, it is about more than just getting ready for college.

“[Although] I thought that it was only a class to help us get a bit more organized and prepared for college,” AVID student Nathaniel Lee explained, “[when] I got to high school I started to learn that AVID is more about bonding with others creating more of a family.” Lee also stated that when it comes to the new AVID teacher “we [the new teacher and the AVID students] are both teaching each other something.”

During Schiermyer’s undergraduate years at Adrian College in Michigan, he started off in a teacher’s education program. However, in his last year, he switched to sports marketing in order to follow another passion: professional sports.

“I ended up getting a job with the Phoenix Coyotes,” but after getting the job, Schiermyer stated, “I didn’t want to just sit behind a desk and pound the phones all day and I had a love for PE and health and fitness. So I went back to ASU and got my teacher’s certificate.”

His passion for the organization and preparation is what helped convince him to join the AVID family. “I like the structure [of AVID],” he explained, “it has a lot of similarities between athletics and it seemed like a neat avenue to pursue for the next half of my career.”

Schiermyer is looking forward to teaching AVID as well as coaching for the varsity football team and freshman baseball. His experience can be expected to have an impact on students and athletes.