What school did you go to?
I went to Royall Middle and High [School]. It combined [students from] Elroy, Mo. and Kendall, Mo., so that’s [the name] they came up with for the school.
How was...
Too much time spent without music often kills the desire to play, but social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian did not lose interest. Instead, the rockstar-gone-teacher stayed in touch with his desire to...
Sixteen requests, four alternates. For years, students have logged into Infinite Campus to register for the following year’s courses. While the registration period has passed, several new courses have...
When West’s newest social studies teacher, Aaron Bashirian, graduated from college and got his degree in history, it would be almost two decades before he got to use it. Instead, Bashirian pursued his...
![Social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian smiles in front of his classroom. Bashirian didn’t know he wanted to be a teacher from early on, but he found the choice to be a good one. “I started [teaching] because there was an opportunity for me to experiment with it. Fortunately, [teaching] was a good choice. In 2012, I became a teacher at Parkway at the Alternative Discipline Center, which is where they send suspended kids to keep being educated if they choose. I spent six years there and then I got drafted to West, [where] I've been for about six years,” Bashirian said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Untitled-35-1200x800.jpg)
![“I’m originally from Milwaukee, Wis. I started out [working] at a retail music store. to pay the bills when I was still back in Milwaukee. I could play piano since I was six and taught myself the guitar and drums. In high school I was in a band, but then I started writing music seriously when I was in college. By the time I finished college, I had enough [music saved up] to make a CD. I went ahead and loaded a CD and started promoting it. [Later] I made another EP which is a shorter [version of a] CD. In the midst of moving to St. Louis, I built a recording studio. By the time I was in St. Louis, I was actually recording a lot of my own stuff, and then I started working with rappers for a while. I was trying to find [an] angle in the music [industry], so I experimented with different things. At the end of the day, I just kind of got burnt out, and I knew that retail didn't have a future for me. So my wife just suggested that I become a teacher. I thought I liked kids, I liked history, and I already had a history degree. I liked the lifestyle of a teacher, so I decided to give it a try and it was a good choice. ” - Aaron Bashirian, History](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Aaron-Bashirian-Staff.jpg)
![Eyes and ruler fixed towards the screen, social studies teacher Aaron Bashirian points to his Smartboard and explains the history behind his barn. Having learned the ropes of carpentry, Bashirian made structural changes to the barn by himself over the past three years. “It’s not your normal barn, but it’s cool, though. It’s got quite a bit of history to it,” Bashirian said. “It used to be a carriage house; you can see where they used to keep the horse. There’s still a grain [and] hay shoot [too]. They parked Model T-style cars [that created] all these oil slicks on the floor where they leaked. You can see that there’s a lot of history in there. I love it, [it’s a] perfect building for a history guy. ”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/gvhgvgj-1-900x643.jpg)
![History teacher Aaron Bashirian plays a gig at a local fair in his hometown of Elroy, Wis. July 1998. “I would say [my music] is pop-y,” Bashirian said. “It’s a happy-go-lucky sort of pop. There are some rock elements to it but it really is just feel good, fun music.”](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Mr.-B-Photo-001-900x600.jpg)