World history and history of sports teacher Randy Tumlison began his 17th year of teaching this school year, in what he describes as “a new era of teaching, where kids’ attention spans are shorter and shorter,” has changed and evolved his teaching style to ensure his students are “engaged and interested every day.”

As part of the process of reducing the “grind” that teaching day in and day out can be, Mr. Tumlison takes time every day while he’s not teaching or planning a lesson to participate in hobbies that he enjoys. One of these activities is walking his dogs every morning after his wife (a former AHS teacher) takes his kids to school. During these morning walks Mr. Tumlison takes the opportunity to as he describes it “gather my thoughts and plan out how the day is going to go.” 

After taking a shower and eating breakfast Mr. Tumlison arrives at school where he teaches world history, a class all sophomores are required to take and history of sports, a class many students aren’t aware that you can take. Mr. Tumlison describes the class as “a one semester course, where students not only learn about the history of sports but get to participate in the sports as well as watching highlights and having debates.” 

After school before planning for his lessons the next time, Mr. Tumlison enjoys “playing video games and spending time with family.” The time spent relaxing is one of the reasons Mr. Tumlison has remained able and motivated to teach and inspire his students each day. 

When planning out his lessons Mr. Tumlison thinks of ways to be fun and engaging and bring positive energy into the classroom. 

“When teaching you need to have an entertainment factor that gets the students going and energized,” Tumlison said.

Tumlison as a student was heavily involved in sports. Once he reached college, he chose a business major and attempted to study finance but “struggled with the math courses, while finding a love for history” Tumlison reached out to his former teachers and thought “hey maybe I can teach and make an impact on students lives while also getting involved in sports by coaching earlier in my career and teaching the history of sports.”

Tumlison’s impact on students goes beyond just his classes as he’s also a leader in Fellowship of Christian Athletes whose mission is to lead coaches and athletes into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and Shattered Dreams which is a visual production that attempts to illustrate and discourage the horrors of drunk driving. “Getting involved and impacting students inspired me to teach in the first place,” Tumlison said. “Find your passion, love your job, and love what you do, for me being a teacher doesn’t even feel like a job because I love it.”