6 I The Lovell Chronicle I September 29, 2011
Three former students return home to teach, coach
BY DAVID PECK
Can you come home again? Three new
teachers in Lovell are saying an emphatic
"yes" to that age-old question as they con-
tinue their teaching careers in the commu-
nity where they went to school.
Daniel Robertson and Bob Weber are
teaching at Lovell High School, from which
they graduated in 2000, and Tobee Chris-
tiansen, though a 1996 Rocky Mountain
High School grad, is following in the foot-
steps of his late father, Gerry Christiansen,
to teach at Lovell Middle School.
Robertson is also following in his father
Kevin's footsteps, teaching literally in the
same science classroom where his father
taught, though the room has been remod-
eled since Daniel graduated, a job overseen
by father Kevin, who shockingly died of
hantavirus in July of 2003.
Daniel grew up in the Big Horn Ba-
sin, living in Burlington, where Kevin
taught, until the family moved to Lovell at
the start of the 1991-92 school year, when
Daniel started fourth grade. He continued
through the Lovell schools until his gradu-
ation in 2000. Interestingly, Robertson and
Weber were good friends in high school,
where both of the excelled in athletics.
"There was kind of a core group of
us, and Bob was one of them," Robertson
said. Added Weber, "We ran around in the
same circle of friends. We were pretty good
buds."
Robertson moved on to the University
of Wyoming, where he said he spent "an in-
ordinate amount of time" before graduat-
ing in 2007.
"It got to do everything I wanted to do
in Laramie," he said. "I coached football
and track and taught freshman biology
(at Laramie schools). So I got to teach and
coach."
Meanwhile, he earned a bachelor's de-
gree in mathematics and science, graduat-
ing in 2007. He took a teaching job in Filer,
Idaho, near Twin Falls, became certified to
teach and taught physical science and biol-
ogy for four years. He also coached football
for four years and girls basketball for one
year. He was the assistant wrestling coach
for a year and the head coach for two years.
He also coached track.
At Lovell, Robertson excelled in football
as a receiver and defensive back, in wres-
tling and in track and field, running the
400- and 1,600-meter relays and the open
400, 100 and 200. He also pole-vaulted.
Robertson said he is thrilled to be back
Daniel Robertson Bob Weber
in his hometown, where he has been hired
to teach chemistry and physical science.
"I'm a Wyoming boy," he said. "I just
wanted to get back to Wyoming. It doesn't
matter where you live. It's all one big town.
I was hoping to get something in the basin,
and I was happy to get to come to Lovell.
"This is better than I would have imag-
ined."
Emotionally, Robertson said he has
done a pretty good job separating himself
from the emotions of returning to the school
where his father taught, but he said there
are reminders of his dad everywhere.
"I keep finding places where he signed
his initials (KPR)," he said. "He had a ten-
dency to do that."
For instance, Daniel found KPR
scrawled in a cupboard and inside a desk
drawer.
"That hit home a little bit," he said. "I
got a little more emotional about it, find-
ing things with his name on it or with his
handwriting on it. I've had a tough time
throwing stuff away."
Filling his father's rather large shoes
is daunting, Daniel said, but is a "nice goal
to have."
"Right now I'm hoping to be half as
good a teacher as he was," Robertson said.
Asked about his style, Robertson said
he borrows from good teachers he had
growing up.
"Every good teacher is just a good pla-
giarist," he said. 'You take the teacher you
admire most as a kid and just copy them.
I use a mixture of my dad, a little of Mr.
(Mike) Greenlee, and Mr. (Gus) Gerhardt.
My dad built a lot of his teaching style after
Mr. Gerhardt.
"My mannerisms are similar (to my
dad's), I hear."
Besides teaching science, Robertson is
also coaching at LHS. He is the junior var-
sity coach and the "eye in the sky" for the
varsity football team, he will be the head
wrestling coach and he will coach pole-
vaulters and sprinters on the track team.
"I'm kind of military in my coaching
style," he said. "I'm a yeller, which is good
and bad."
Overall, he is just happy to be home,
near some of his siblings and his mother,
Brenda Simmons.
WEBER RETURNS
Bob Weber moved to Lovell in 1994
with his parents, Duane and LuAnn We-
ber. He started his seventh-grade year at
Lovell Middle School and graduated with
Robertson in 2000.
Duane Weber was the LDS seminary
teacher at the time.
Like Robertson, Weber was a three-
sport athlete, excelling in football as a line-
backer and flanker, in basketball as a for-
ward and in track as a jumper, winning the
state triple jump title.
He is teaching Spanish at LHS.
Weber served a two-year mission in Ar-
gentina, which, he said, "got me into Span-
ish." He served in the northeastern part of
the country near Paraguay, seeing a lot of
remote, rural areas with very poor people,
many of them indigenous.
Once home, he married Danielle :Bas-
sett and the newlyweds moved to Laramie,
where he earned a BA Degree in second-
ary Spanish education from UW in 2007.
The Webers moved to Logan, Utah, where
Bob earned a master's degree in second
language teaching, finishing in December
of 2008.
Weber landed a job in Goshen County
for the 2009-10 school year, teaching Span-
ish at Torrington and Lingle-Ft. Laramie
schools for two years. He is now teaching
Spanish at LHS, as well as an English as
a Second Language component for five stu-
dents - English language learners - at
Lovell Elementary School. The program
gives certain students a chance to hone
their English language skills so they can
succeed in the classroom.
Like Robertson, Weber is glad to be
home.
"I've always claimed Lovell as home,
and having married a Lovell girl, it was al-
ways a goal to get back here," he said. "I've
always kept my eye out."
Bob and Danielle Weber have one
daughter, Addie, who will be 2 in October,
and they are expecting their second child,
due in March.
"It's been great," he said. "This still feels
like home. I feel very welcome in the com-
munity and at school among the staff and
students. It just feels right to be back."
Asked about his teaching style, Weber
said he uses a communicative approach to
teaching Spanish, a practical use of the
language.
See 'NEW TEACHERS' page 7
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