Murray, NE — The 2020-21 school year marks the end of an era. The end of an era in which countless Conestoga high school students have been taught and influenced by Mr. Hermeling, a math teacher who has given his all to the school.

If you’re a student or faculty member at Conestoga, it’s very likely that you’ve become familiar with Mr. Hermeling’s unparalleled personality, wonderful storytelling, and of course, his love and knowledge for the practice of mathematics.

Mr. Hermeling has been a teacher at Conestoga for 14 years. In his time since the 2007-08 school year, Hermeling has taught everything from calculus to trigonometry, while also teaching a life changing course of financial math.

As the years have gone by and the end is soon to come, Hermeling has been left to reflect on his time as a teacher at Conestoga.

“I have loved every minute of it,” said Hermeling. “I like the small town atmosphere where everybody knows everybody, small class sizes and that type of stuff.”

Sitting down with Mr. Hermeling, I also asked him how Conestoga has changed since his time here.

“Not a lot,” Hermeling says. “We’ve added a few classrooms, the curriculum has expanded a little bit, but overall, it’s a lot of the same. In the last few years I think Mr. Geise has done a really good job here; it’s a pretty safe place to be at at all times. The overall environment hasn’t changed a whole lot; it’s never really been hard to teach here.”

While Mr. Hermeling has taught and had an influence on students for a little over a decade, he says that the school itself has taught him some lessons as well.

“I’d just say to accept a little diversity, especially here in a small community,” said Hermeling. “We get kids who are different, and there’s nothing wrong with that at all. A lot of times in a small community, people who are considered different are not very welcome, but at Conestoga it hasn’t been that way at all.”

As Mr. Hermeling had stated, Conestoga is home to a very diverse, and also very creative population of students. For Hermeling, this group of students is what has given him the best memories at Cougar High.

“I would probably say Jake Herz’s song about the quadratic formula. That was one of my favorite memories. It was about 20 minutes,” says Hermeling with a chuckle. “That was one of them, but the little things like the tape game (a maze memorization game) that kids love. That type of stuff.”

Mr. Hermeling will be taking a job at Gretna Middle School.

In regard to his next path in teaching, Hermeling said, “I will be a middle school math teacher there. I’ll be teaching 7th and 8th graders which means I’ll probably need a little more patience.”

Throughout his time at Conestoga, Mr. Hermeling has given many wonderful lessons, and many interesting stories. As a student here, I’ll say that I have gained more knowledge on real life topics than I ever expected to.

From all of the students and faculty of Conestoga to Mr. Hermeling, we say thank you for all that you have done, and good luck in the future.