Special Education teacher, Marvin Murray, teaches the multi-disabled support students at the school. After graduating from Tyrone Area High School, he moved on to post secondary education at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and Saint Francis University. 

“I taught at Roosevelt for the first nine years of my teaching career. I was always at the secondary level but just junior high, then when the job came open [I came over]. I worked with this type of kid in a group home before so I thought ‘well yeah I can go over there and fill that vacancy,’ so that was about 27 years ago,” Murray said.

When Murray first started his job, traveling wasn’t always the easiest.

“I-99 made it so nice once that was completed. I used to have to come up old 220 before. Then in ‘99, I started using I-99 to come to work so it cut about 10 minutes off the drive,” Murray said.

Murray’s favorite part about his job is the students he gets to work with because according to him, they aren’t like everyone else.

“My guys aren’t so geared towards math, reading and English, we are more about communicating and getting them to communicate back to us what they want if there are things they need,” Murray said. “The enjoyment is seeing them blossom and when the light comes on; like when we are teaching signs or something and they get the sign and do it back for you.”

Murray has one specific memory that he looks back on the most. 

“For Jasmine, last year when we were in middle school, she was the only kid that came in because of COVID-19, and she started talking. We didn’t even know she could talk. That was amazing. We would say the word to her, and she would say it back to us. That kind of perpetuated her using her voice more to talk about things, so that was one of the best moments I’ve had in my teaching career,” Murray said. 

Besides teaching, Murray is involved in several other activities. 

“I help Mr. McCarter with ski club during the winter. Since I live in Tyrone and I know some of the kids there, so I coach junior high football and JV baseball,” Murray said. “I’m pretty busy all year around until the summer hits, then I do my own thing.” 

Murray didn’t always plan on being a special education teacher. 

“When I worked in the group home, that got my interest in this type of student. When I got to Indiana they had something called ‘Ed of Exceptional.’ So I got into that program and went through to be a teacher,” Murray said. “I planned on being a math teacher until I had a course in senior high that I bombed.” 

While working in the group home, he began to have an interest disabled students. 

“I always wondered what they were thinking and how to break through that disability to get them to communicate with us and see why they act the way they do; so I guess that’s why I picked to go into special education instead of math,” Murray said. 

Since Murray started teaching, there have been many changes associated with teaching and the school district in general.

“When I first started it seemed that there were so many kids because we had two junior highs, so we had a lot of kids in the district and now we are combined; it just seems like the population of the area came down so that we had to combine two buildings into one,” Murray said. “When I first came in we were still allowed to paddle, so that’s how long I’ve been in and it’s been gone for years. It was a different time, we were still in the 80s. Some of the old rules that your parents talk about now were there. That was the biggest change.”

Murray offers some words of wisdom to new teachers. 

“Be all ears. Listen and pick up on stuff. Make sure you have your computer skills in order. I still struggle, and I’ve had a computer for about 30 years. Be attentive and pay attention to all the nuances of all the paperwork. Things change every year. It seems like you see the big picture but work on little hunks of it at a time to get it completed. Advice that one of the teachers gave me when I started was ‘hey, if you can’t get all your paperwork done at school don’t take it home. That is your family time, don’t take your job home with you’,” Murray said. 

Community service adviser Kimberly Shope graduated from Southern Huntingdon County High School and Penn State University. For Shope, after growing up in a small town with almost 100 students in a graduating class, Altoona was something to get used to. 

Besides working at the high school, Shope served as the assistant principal at Keith Junior High. She has been involved in numerous activities since she first started. 

“I have been serving as the department chairman for the social studies department for many years. I am one of the student council advisers, and I’ve been doing that the entire time I’ve been here. I was Mock Trial adviser when that first started. I was in charge of AfterGlo and worked with prom for many years. I am also involved in handling the internal accounts for all the school clubs,” Shope said. 

Shope has known all her life that she wanted to be a teacher. 

“I didn’t go into college to study that initially,” Shope said. “Teachers were making $6,000-$10,000 a year, and I couldn’t see that as a sustainable life. I went into political science. When I was in college, the state legislature passed a minimum salary for educators. I remember my dad calling me and saying ‘Are you going to switch now?’ because he remembered that I always wanted to be a teacher so that’s what I did. I’ve also always wanted to teach history because I love history.”

Many of Shope’s best memories came from the field trips.

“I think some of my good memories are when my kids came through. I’ve enjoyed many of the pep rallies and those events. I worked with the marching band for four or five years as the silk adviser, so I enjoyed those trips as well,” Shope said. “I used to take the students in my history class to New York in the fall and to [Washington] D.C. in the spring.”

Shope remembers some former colleagues who have impacted her teaching career. 

“Mr. Aboud, he kind of opened my eyes to a lot of things that teachers could do that when I was growing up they didn’t have in my school. Mr. Shaffer had a large impact on my getting comfortable in this type of environment because I’m not familiar with this type of large school,” Shope said.

Shope’s advice for new teachers is to get involved. 

“The classroom is what brought you here because you have a love for a particular content, but that is only a part of teaching. I think the activities really enhance the role of teaching. I’ve had students who have been in my class but also in the club that I dealt. That relationship really expands and you really get to know each other a little more. I think it gives a new perspective as an educator to just be more well rounded as far as in the class and outside of the class,” Shope said. 

Math teacher Doug Spayd graduated from Huntingdon Area High School. He received his undergraduate degree from Juniata College and his master’s degree from Wilkes University.

His favorite part of his job is seeing and working with the students. 

“I am a winter track coach and a spring track coach. My specialty is working with the hurdlers,” Spayd said. 

Although many things have changed throughout the years, Spayd noticed one thing that has never changed.

“If a student wants to learn, he or she will learn. The opportunities have been and are always present,” Spayd said. 

Spayd has many memories in the past 35 years. 

“Working with many great teachers and teaching so many awesome students in the Altoona Area School District are very fond memories,” Spayd said.

One of Spayd’s high school teachers had an impact on his career. 

“I had an incredible math teacher, Mr. Robert Fultz, in high school that was full of energy and had a great passion for teaching. 

Spayd shares some advice for new teachers. 

“A clear perspective and a strong positive attitude can take you a long way in education,” Spayd said.

American history teacher James Lowe graduated from Altoona and received his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Lowe has always taught at the high school level and loves teaching his students. 

“[My favorite part of teaching is] teaching the students about the great history of the United States and sharing my passion for history with them. History is truly an intriguing subject with so many life lessons built into it,” Lowe said. 

Along with his love for history, Lowe is also involved in other activities. 

“I am currently the co-adviser for the Patriotic Student Alliance. I also supervise after school detention for the principals. Previously, I was the coach for the Mock Trial Team when we won both a state and national championship. I also coached baseball for 15 years,” Lowe said. 

Lowe appreciates his teachers from when he was a student including Gene Conrad and C. Richard Shaffer. He also appreciates his dad. 

“The two most impactful persons on my career were my dad who taught me about having a good work ethic and my high school history teacher Dick Shaffer who epitomized what a good teacher is,” Lowe said. 

According to Lowe, there are many changes from when he first started teaching from paperwork to technology. 

“The biggest change is the excessive amount of work required of teachers that does not contribute to one becoming a better teacher or better educating the students. Another significant change has been the prevalence of standardized testing,” Lowe said. “Finally, when I started, computers were a novelty item that might be located in an office and rarely used. Today, every student and teacher has a computer and so much of what we do is based upon computers and technology. My instructional media class when I started focused on how to make overheads for an overhead projector and how to load a film strip.”

Lowe has many great memories from his many years of teaching.

“My best memories are the activities that allowed students to gain an appreciation for history. I always share that I’ve been blessed with the best students and they make this career worthwhile. I would also add that the support I received during my first transplant in 1997 and my second transplant in 2018 can’t be properly expressed in words here, but I am forever grateful,” Lowe said. 

According to Lowe, anyone who wants a teaching career should do it for the right reasons. 

“I recall the long-standing joke of people wanting to be teachers to get their summer off. You have to believe in yourself that you can make a positive impact on your students. That you can make a difference. That will allow you to do this career for an extended period of time. Not every day is going to be easy, but as I always say, keep your glass half full,” Lowe said.

Orchestra teacher Kelly Detwiler is an alum of Altoona and Penn State University. She has previously taught at Keith, Roosevelt and the high school, but is now teaching at the junior high and high school.

“Meeting all the students and seeing them grow up from seventh grade to twelfth grade and now sixth grade to twelfth grade,” Detwiler said. “I am the orchestra director, majorette adviser and I do a couple little committees here and there throughout the school.”

Detwiler didn’t intend on graduating with a music major.

“I actually didn’t enter college in the teaching profession. I was actually a math major; I was big into science and that kind of stuff I was really missing music. I went and joined a lot of ensembles and played with them. Once I got in there I knew that was absolutely what I wanted to do and there was no question about it,” Detwiler said. 

According to Detwiler, it was her high school and college music directors who really impacted her love of teaching music.

“My high school band director really taught me a lot about music. He really helped me out and took some time to teach me with my bass playing and was really influential in my career,” Detwiler said. “When I got to college, the jazz band director kind of took me in, and he had a faculty jazz group called a combo, so I ended up playing with them. He just took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things. He is one of the biggest reasons I am the person and player I am today.”

Detwiler believes that one of the biggest changes since she has started is students in the workforce. 

“Kids would go home and be at home. They would do their homework and practice or take private lessons, for my subject that I teach, but nowadays there just isn’t time for it because everyone is running from here and there and everywhere, so that is the biggest change,” Detwiler said

Detwiler has many memories with her students but mostly enjoys who she teaches with. 

“It isn’t a memory but one of the joys that I have while teaching is being able to teach alongside my husband. We are together 24/7 and it creates a relationship that we have so much in common and so much to talk about, and I think that is one of the best things in my position and what I’m doing now,” Detwiler said. 

Detwiler offers advice to beginning teachers.

“Be patient because it won’t be perfect for five years. It’ll take you five years to figure it out. You have to take one day at a time and one breath at a time. If you have the patience and endurance you will absolutely love this career, but it takes a while to get used to it and everything that is going on and all of the personalities and everyone that you have to get in contact with and be with in your classrooms,” Detwiler said.