BY HUNTER SILVAN

While hundreds of students shuffle through the halls of Truman High School, only a handful experience the rapture in Room 244. These cement confines make up the sanctuary of Garrett Gordon. 

It’s been seven years since Gordon began teaching at Truman, but a decade ago it’s unlikely that education aligned with his laundry list of aspirations. 

Upon graduating from the University of Missouri with a journalism degree, Gordon found himself behind the broadcast desk in Sioux City, Iowa. Although larger markets began eyeing his talent, his experience in the small town remained irreplaceable – it’s where he learned how to become a professional. 

“There’s this extra level of dedication and commitment that you need out of college,” Gordon said. “I didn’t want to do it at first. One day my director told me, ‘You’re good but you make too many mistakes. If I tell you to do something, you can’t ever do it wrong again.’ That to me was a good lesson. Mistakes are fine, just don’t repeat them.” 

Many years earlier, he learned a similar lesson as a ballplayer. Growing up in Houston, Gordon fell in love with baseball and idolized players like Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio. But after finding himself on the mound, he mimicked his game after the all-time great pitcher, Greg Maddux. 

Gordon fiddled around the diamond throughout his childhood, playing in select leagues before moving on to play varsity baseball at Irving High School. He wouldn’t become a major league pitcher, but his playing days sparked a new passion that could put him in the same ballpark.

Once the learning curve reached its plateau in Sioux City, Gordon moved to a bigger market. His director in Sioux City became the director in Omaha, Nebraska, and Gordon followed. 

During his tenure in Omaha, Gordon bloomed into an Emmy-winning journalist before he reached another crossroads. Through an old friend, he became the film producer for Major League Baseball game day productions at the start-up network, Fox Sports 1 – the dream could be fulfilled.  

“I wanted to be on-air because that’s what I enjoyed, but I couldn’t say no,” Gordon said. “It was a national network. Major League Baseball was going to be my job. The traveling sounded fun. It all sounded unbelievable.”

Two months into the job, regret ensued. While living in hotels and airports for six months, he began losing his love for the game. He needed to get out. 

“I was renting an apartment in Los Angeles for four grand a month and I never saw it,” Gordon said. “It killed me. I hated baseball by the end of it. It got to a point where I would wake up and forget what city I was in. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

After six months with Fox Sports, Gordon returned to Omaha as the sports director. Taking the reins as director, he worked with college interns and young journalists more than ever. A few years later, Gordon lost excitement in the job itself but found excitement in teaching others. The new foundation had laid itself.

Gordon applied for a teaching job in Independence, Missouri. Due to his inexperience in education, he didn’t expect to land the job. In other words, he interviewed while applying show makeup and editing his 5 p.m. broadcast. 

To his surprise, he received a phone call a couple of days later that made him the next journalism teacher at Truman High School. 

His experience with interns and young journalists sparked a passion. He didn’t like the direction journalism was headed, which created a desire to teach the next generation of journalists how to do things the right way. 

“The students are naive to the way journalism has always been and excited about what it could be,” Gordon said. “I figured I could make a bigger impact by beginning that change at the high school level.”

Figuring out how to present information became his biggest challenge during his first year of teaching. His journalism experience made it familiar territory, but there remained a profound difference between people willingly tuning into news broadcasts and students with little desire to be in the classroom. 

Through the years, Gordon started to see improvements in both his teaching and his student’s work, and that’s when he realized the opportunity at hand.  

“There’s a lot of kids that are never going to do anything in journalism or do anything with my courses, but I can still impact them in the way they think about the world around them,” Gordon said. “Through that, I can help them become better people and make a difference.”

The recurring theme for Gordon is impact. As long as he’s making an impact on his students, he’s comfortable with the results. 

“Gordon showed me how to build my leadership skills and communicate my vision to a group of people in order to create a project that represented an entire student body,” said former student and yearbook editor, Kara Amos. “He gave us creative liberties with our work, but also helped mentor us to be better students.”

His mentorship also travels beyond the classroom, where many students are searching for a balance between school, extracurricular activities, and managing the change from adolescence to young adulthood.  

“Gordon was very honest about life and becoming an adult, and I always appreciated that,” said Vanessa Garcia. “He will always be someone who inspires me to do better and grow constantly.”

We all need a pitcher who’s willing to throw us a fastball down the middle – someone with a willingness and desire to sacrifice their personal benefits for the betterment of others. In that way, we should strive to be more like Garrett Gordon.