1/3 of the business department is retiring at the end of this year. 

Business teachers Robert Bock and Greg Schuermeyer are both ending their 25-plus year teaching careers and heading into retirement. Both Bock and Schermeyer said they are going to miss South tremendously.

“I’m going to miss the interaction and relationships you develop with students and staff on a day-to-day basis. South has been absolutely great,” Bock said.

 Schermeyer also agrees that South is a great place to work, and has a great community.

“I’m going to miss South. I know when I wake up in August it will hit me that I’m not going back. South is my family. I’ll miss my Dungeons and Dragons club, students, and especially my co-workers. Bock and Heath are like my brothers,”  Schuermeyer said.

Not only are Bock and Schermeyer going to miss South, their students are also going to miss them.

“The attitude at South will significantly change without Bock. We’re losing someone who has been here for two decades. My favorite memory was when our whole hockey team went in his ac. lab and watched film. It was like a party,” senior Brendan Foshee said. 

Schuermeyer’s students will also miss all he has to offer at South. 

“South is losing such an amazing teacher. Not only is he a great business teacher, he is so bubbly all the time and just radiates his energy on all students. Whenever I see him in the hallway, I can’t help but smile. He’s so easy to talk to and so fun to listen to. My favorite memory from Mr. Schuermeyer’s class is when we would get off topic in Accounting and just talk about random things,” senior Devyn Dimovitz said.

While he is going to dearly miss South, Bock said he has some exciting plans for retirement including a lot of traveling.

“I’m excited to travel more. I’m going to start with weekend trips and then go on longer trips as I travel farther away from St. Louis. I’m going to start with exploring Missouri, then states in 4-hour radius, then 8 hours. Then eventually I’ll have to start flying, starting close then going farther. I went to the Grand Canyon as a kid, and would love to go back and hike horseback ride down it,” Bock said.

Schuermyer, on the other hand, has plans to stay local and still work. 

“I’m definitely staying in the St. Louis area. My family’s still here and my kids are in school here. I’m probably still going to work, but working when I want to work and being able to structure my time how I want. You’ll probably see me up here subbing next here, but when I decide I want to,” Schuermeyer said.

Bock gave some advice for people who are interested in becoming teachers. “I would say be yourself and don’t try to imitate other teachers. Take the best from the teachers you’ve had and try to incorporate it into your style. Keep the kids active and engaged in their learning. Doing something or creating something. Try to be positive and enthusiastic, the kids have negativity and people telling them what they can’t do so tell them what they can,” Bock said. 

Schuermeyer has been teaching for 27 years and has a love for teaching his Accounting class.

“I’m a business teacher. I teach so many things. I teach students how to make movies, I teach Marketing. Taught Network and Computer Maintenance, Business Law, how to type. Anything that comes to mind with  business I have taught. There are only 1-2 classes I haven’t taught. My favorite class however is Accounting, I’m probably going to do accounting when I leave, not sure exactly what,” Schuermeyer said

Bock said he will always be a Patriot.

“South is a great spot to be a student or teacher,” Bock said