Choir director Greg Woodin dropped a bomb on choir students last week when he announced that he would not be returning to teach for the 2016-2017 school year. This was a shock to both the students and the staff. When interviewed, this was his explanation:

Interview Question (Allie): When did you make this decision?

Answer (Woodin): It’s been a slow build beginning last year. I had some personal things going on in my life, some really big life changing things that required me to start asking questions that I had never really dealt with before. There were some family things.. And some personal relationship things that kind of opened up my eyes to exactly what I did or didn’t want. Then some of those personal things kind of crashed down on me at the beginning of the year and that made me seek out some recourses of how to deal. I went to a therapist… and I didn’t realize that anxiety was a thing for me. They told me that I was one of the most high strung people that they had ever met in their life. I was like “What?!”! But there was really a particularly hard day in December where it just kinda clicked and I was like, “I gotta get out of here.”

Interview Question (Allie): Are you scared?

Answer (Woodin): Oh yeah. Oh yeah yeah. It’s one of those things that a lot of people just don’t get because so many people have it figured out at my age, and then there are a lot of people that just continue lying to themselves. You never should do that. You know, I’m 27 years old. I just have, like, 90 percent of my professional life left, what’s the rush?

Interview Question (Allie): But the job you have now isn’t really one that you leave…

Answer (Woodin): Yeah… and this job, it isn’t one you leave. ADM is known for retaining teachers. People are like, you’re leaving ADM? You don’t leave ADM. Dude, you have such an awesome job, and it’s only going to grow and it’s only going to get bigger, you’re doing such awesome things. It’s not that I’m not happy… and that’s the hard part. I’m enjoying it, it’s just… There are days when it’s really fulfilling and it’s like the best job in the world, and then there are days when I just feel stuck. I’m in a rut and I’m just going through the motions.. And I know thats choice that we make.

Interview Question (Allie): Who’d you tell first?

Answer (Woodin): I told, as far as the school is concerned, I told the music department. And then, I told the principals, so that they knew, and then I told Mr. Dufoe and the school board. So, I got all those things done first so the administration wasn’t sideswiped. They gave me time to tell the kids, and the staff. The kids are the hardest part.

Interview Question (Allie): The kids reaction, how did that affect you?

Answer (Woodin): Well, for the last week or so when I started writing the letter and it’s been a lot of sleepless nights. Today I knew it would be tough telling the kids. I had it on a piece of paper and I was like shaking uncontrollably. At first when people started talking about things, I think they thought somebody died. Nobody’s dead, but yeah, I think the thing that hit me hardest, I always come up with these worst case scenario things. Am I going to get punched…Will they say “Good riddance” OR even worse are people just going to be like…Okay? So for them to say that they’re proud of me, and that they support me, it means the world.

Interview Question (Allie): So what’s next? Do you know?

Answer (Woodin): This is the worst part because there are lots of things.

Interview Question (Allie): Do you have any, like, path or direction that sticks out?

Answer (Woodin): Yes. As of right now I am still looking for teaching jobs in the Omaha and Seattle areas.

Interview Question (Allie): So you still want to teach?

Answer (Woodin): Yeah. I mean I think so! But that’s kinda the whole point of this. I guess what I’ve really figured out these last few years is that nothing is permanent. Every step isn’t the wrong step, but at least it’s one step closer to figuring out what you wanna do. You can’t waste time trying to figure that out. There’s no rush but there’s also so much more out there. There’s that, and then I’m also thinking about going back to school either for choral conducting, if I decide that I still want to do that, or for sports therapy, or perhaps psychiatric. I’ve lost a couple really close friends to suicide these last years. Talking to students these days I feel like we are just at fever pitch with stress levels and pressures that kids face these days. More and more kids are succeeding with committing suicide. It’s something that hit closer to me than I ever thought that it would, It’s  kinda popped up that maybe I want to pursue this a little bit. But on top of both of those things I could still add my music on top of that, because I have passion for all of that. It’s a relationship thing, both sports and music.

Interview Question (Allie): Lastly, rugby? Will you still coach this year?

Answer (Woodin): Oh, yeah. Nothing is changing there!
The ADM school district will surely miss Woodin next year, however it’s clearly evident that the entire district, both students and staff, are entirely supportive of his next adventure.