Sahuaro salutes math teacher, Dan Wells, who after serving in the United States Air Force for over 20 years, served Sahuaro for an additional 20+years, positively impacting staff and students wherever he goes.  Surprisingly, Mr. Wells got into teaching due to the Air Force. “I was jogging with a friend of mine, we used to go running all the time, and he asked me out of nowhere if I was good at math, and I said, ‘Yeah I’m pretty good at math, why do you ask me that?'” Turns out, Wells’ friend was failing his math classes at Pima College and needed a tutor.  While serving, he was teaching people how to speak English and he ended up helping tutor his jogging buddy in math. Mr. Wells is extremely selfless and always willing to help. After he started tutoring, the student started making straight A’s and Wells was told he should be a teacher.

Mr. Wells really enjoyed being stationed in Europe, more specifically Germany during the 80s and the beginning of the 90s. This was his favorite place to be stationed because it was “super close to communists.” He loved how he had important missions and was keeping our country free. He says he “wanted to try something adventurous and I didn’t want to spend my whole life in one place.” He joined the Air Force to improve his life, serve his country, and for many of the health benefits. One of his most exciting moments when he was in the Air Force was witnessing the Berlin Wall collapse in 1989.

Mr. Wells is extremely passionate about his work. “I love teaching, so I decided to go for it and I’m so glad I did. It’s a good decision.” His knowledge goes past the English language as well. “I meet foreign students who don’t speak English and somehow connect with them to help them do well at math. That’s a big challenge if they don’t speak English. But fortunately, I speak a few foreign languages.” He has been able to help Hispanic, Korean, and German students without language barriers.

As we can tell, Mr. Wells is an extremely motivated, talented, hardworking, teacher, who goes out of his way to make sure all of his students succeed to the best of their abilities. But his helpfulness isn’t just limited to students. It’s extended to staff as well.  Math teacher Mr. Bohland says, “Dan Wells has always been a positive part of my experience at Sahuaro High School. He will go out of his way to compliment what you do. He won’t hesitate to obtain needed supplies when you don’t have the time. He’ll unselfishly work hours with any student who shows the desire to learn. The part of Dan’s personality that I will remember most fondly has to do with his search for knowledge. As we would eat our lunches every day, the group of math teachers in my room would often come up with questions relative to the conversation that no one knew the answer to. Dan would immediately jump on his phone and look up the answer to any question. He would never let the chance to obtain knowledge slip by. I became so used to this, that I would often hesitate to wait for what Dan found out. I will miss Dan’s constant search for the answers to lunch’s important questions. I wish him the very best, well-deserved retirement!”

“I’ve known Dan for almost 20 years, and he has always had a very positive attitude about the future for his students who do the work and try hard. He often speaks of the accomplishments of his former students with great pride,” fellow math teacher, Mr. Cutler states.

I’m so grateful to have had Mr. Wells as my geometry teacher. I would’ve never understood anything had it not been for him. He has given some great advice as well to other struggling students such as,  “Start by going to YouTube. There’s no excuse because every assignment you get in math class has a theme. You’ll find many good videos, and the best thing about a video, you can rewind it and you can pause it. So with the internet, I think there’s no reason not to learn. Whether it’s math or automotive repair, there are so many things you can learn on your own if you’re motivated.”

Since Mr. Wells is retiring, we’re all curious as to what he’s going to do after, right? Well, the answer is, nothing! “Nothing at all, I’m going to be a homebody and take care of my family and my pets and property, we have a lot of projects we want to get done in the house,” he says.

Although some may be sad that Mr. Wells is leaving, he sure isn’t. He explained, “No sadness, everything is very glorious, this is the right time to retire. I’m at that point where I like what I do and I don’t want to have it go anywhere from there. I’m completely satisfied.”

We’re extremely thankful for the 2+ decades of work and dedication he has put in here at Sahuaro.

From everyone, thank you, Mr. Wells! We’ll miss you and good luck on your future endeavors.