Contrary to the widely held belief among the student populace, teachers do indeed have passions and interests outside the realm of academics.

In fact, several teachers pursue fascinating hobbies completely under the radar of student awareness either for enjoyment or pragmatic purposes.

Among the educators that engage in enthralling activities outside of school are AP Language and Composition teacher William Combs, Geometry and AP Statistics teacher Darrell Irvin and AP World History and AP Government and Comparative Politics instructor Wendel Nothdurft.

Dr. Combs devotes his spare time to landscaping and World of Warcraft among other leisure activities; whereas Mr. Irvin constructs stained glass windows. Mr. Nothdurft is absorbed by the exploration of the human condition and couples that keen interest with flea marketing.

Dr. Combs’ love affair with World of Warcraft began about nine years ago when he received the game as a Christmas present from a close friend. The aforementioned friend had insisted that Dr. Combs would enjoy the game prior to actually gifting the game and his intuition proved correct.

“I loved it.  It is fantasy-based and contains swords, sorcery, and good versus evil.  All of the things that a nerd likes,” said Dr. Combs with a chuckle.

In addition to participating in World of Warcraft, Dr. Combs also finds amusement in landscaping. His initial attraction to the art was a desire to create curb appeal for his home.  However, the interest has since blossomed into an outlet to express his passions as well as a sense of dichotomy.

His front lawn is fairly standard, but his backyard will soon reflect his passion for gaming as Dr. Combs plans to somewhat replicate a land from World of Warcraft.  The structure will resemble a Chinese garden by incorporating bamboo, a koi pond complete with lilies and statuary.  Dr. Combs also has intentions to coordinate his front lawn with his neighbors’ by creating one unified theme that would extend across both lawns.

Like Dr. Combs, Mr. Irvin’s passion has been ongoing for approximately nine years. Mr. Irvin’s interest in creating stained glass windows came about when he purchased a house that had twelve translucent transom windows.

“We discovered that even though light is good, it stains furniture,” said Mr. Irvin of the reason he began to look into stained glass.

Originally, Mr. Irvin explored the option of purchasing professional stained glass to replace the translucent glass in his transom windows but soon realized that the expense was more than he was willing to pay.

Following this realization, Mr. Irvin took a course and learned to contrive stained glass windows on his own. The amount of time he allocates to his hobby is dependent on his mood and the weather, but each window requires much attention, as it a very intricate process.

He must cut each piece of glass by hand and assemble the segments as if they are parts of a puzzle before finally wrapping each component with copper foil tape and soldering them together.

He often creates his own patterns in order to match the décor of his home, but for his most recent endeavor he is drawing inspiration from a photograph he came across online in order to create a piano-themed window.

Since learning to create stained glass windows, Mr. Irvin has successfully transformed ten of the 12 transom windows into elaborate works of art.

While Mr. Nothdurft’s interests do not manifest in the form of art, they do require a lot of involvement much like the extracurricular activities of his colleagues. Mr. Nothdurft has been fascinated with the human condition for the vast majority of his life, but his fondness for flea marketing has recently emerged. He is an avid reader of the subject and engages in discussions in order to satiate his relentless curiosity regarding the human condition. He also works with his wife in a flea market booth to involve himself with his newly molded interest.

Mr. Nothdurft regards his passion to gain insight into the complex human condition as a part of his persona. He even views the everlasting interest to be “tedious and laborious,” and he tends to entertain thoughts involving the matter 24-7.

“I cannot avoid my more philosophical bent,” he said. “It is like a moth to the flame and more and more that flame wanes.”