Ben Vogel is a teacher and assistant superintendent in the AASD. He has been in the school district for 16 years. However, this is the first year he has ever spoken at Career Expo, which was all hours on November 9th. He started off his presentation with a quiz for the students about their knowledge of the AASD. He asked the questions: “How many students attend AASD schools?”, “How many schools are in the AASD?”, “How many staff members does the AASD employ?”, “What is the AASD’s budget?”, and finally “What is the most important role in the AASD?”. He answered that last question, by saying that the AASD’s most important job is educating students. He talked about the importance of not only getting 23 credits before you graduate but also gaining the skills to lead a successful life.

Vogel went to UW Eau Claire for one semester, before deciding to leave. Vogel said that he wasn’t ready to leave home and be on his own. He then attended a two-year college, UW Marathon County. For his next two years, he attended Cardinal Stritch University, in Milwaukee. He started teaching but went back to school to be a certified school principal. He filled in as an assistant principal very often and decided to become a full-time principal. When a colleague asked him why he wanted to be a principal, he responding with saying that he wanted to see how he could provide support for teachers in his position. He soon became a principal at Appleton East High School.

Some of his duties as Assistant Superintendent are to determine enrollment projections (how many students will be in each grade next year), which affects how many teachers will be hired for the next school year. Vogel said he wants every student to know that they have a choice in their classes. Vogel also talked about a startling statistic: 35 percent fewer people are going into education, Vogel said. Currently, there are not enough substitute teachers to fill in for every sick teacher. Finally, Vogel ended his presentation by talking about passion. He thinks passion is the most important quality for someone working in a job. If you don’t have a passion for your line of work, it doesn’t matter what your GPA is, Vogel said.