Mr. Edmonds has been working at Appleton North ever since the school first opened its doors in 1995. He has a passion for literature and has been educating teens on this subject his entire career. He is a calm and understanding person and can be caught drinking his coffee typically in a button-up shirt with a tie, even occasionally one saying “dangerous” down the front.

Regardless of this tie, it still came as a shock that Mr. Edmonds loves to windsurf.

When he was 18 years old, his close friend brought him out on the water and taught him how to ride a wave. He has collected at least half a dozen windsurfing boards since then, as well as ten sails that he takes out onto Lake Winnebago.

When Edmonds was in his twenties he went for five summers windsurfing on the Columbia River Gorge. In warmer weather the gorge acts like a vacuum, sucking the air and creating the perfect amount of wind. This creates the perfect conditions for windsurfing and a perfect summer for Edmonds. After working every day near Mount Hood, he would go sailing for around three hours in the river, and then pick up his wife from the pizza place she worked at. It was a simple life, a reliable routine, that he absolutely loved.

“It’s not just being with the water and the wind, but how my body is a part of the mechanism and feels every pull and tug,” he explains, “it’s just a huge rush.”

Edmond’s favorite board is white, yellow, and purple with heel indents from use. When he gets out on the water, he especially loves the fast winds and getting in the air. However, sometimes he has taken it to extremes, resulting in a broken a collarbone and a broken foot. On one of his expeditions, he had to be picked up by the Coast Guard because he drifted too far out into the lake, but that didn’t prevent him from continuing his passion.

Mr. Edmonds: Husband. Father of two. Educator. Literature buff. Windsurfing extraordinaire.