John Bernhisel

A love of teaching stemming from an interesting life

Sometimes it’s hard to let go of a profession you love, one that keeps a person engaged and life interesting.

Such was the case with John Bernhisel, the longest tenured educator at Rocky Mountain High School who retired this year after 36 years of teaching, though he said he was eligible to hang it up some six years earlier.

Bernhisel was also a longtime cross country and distance coach at RMHS and was inducted into the Wyoming Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2024. And although coaching was a tremendously enjoyable experience for Bernhisel, teaching has always been number one.

“For me, teaching was my first love, and coaching was just an added bonus,” he said. “I remember thinking: ‘You know, I get paid a few bucks to go for a run on a beautiful day.’”

Bernhisel grew up in Fort Bragg, California, on the Mendicino Redwood Coast, he said, the son of two teachers, his father a science teacher and his mother language arts, who not only taught in the classroom but showed their children the greater world, taking the family on long journeys to see the country and lands across the sea.

“I think my parents were 1970s California hippies,” he said. “We had a VW van, and we drove thousands of miles across the United States, and one summer, we drove about 12,000 miles in Europe, all the way from London to Rome to Moscow and clear up into Finland.

“It was an amazing gift my parents gave me to see the world and to have all those opportunities.”

After a high school career that included strong success as a competitive runner, Bernhisel enrolled at BYU in Provo, served a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Brazil, returned to BYU, married Sally Despain of Lovell, then moved on to Utah State University, where both he and Sally earned degrees.

With a degree in science education in hand, Bernhisel read in the Lovell Chronicle about an opening for a science teacher at Rocky Mountain High School, then located in Byron. He interviewed and was hired in the fall of 1989.

As a science teacher for 36 years, Bernhisel said he has always enjoyed teaching physics, chemistry and physical science, in part because the three areas involve math, new ideas, and lessons that affect everyday life.

“My favorite subject in school was math, by 10 times,” he said. “I won some high school math competitions in the Bay Area as a kid. But I was drawn to science because it’s more living. Math hasn’t changed since Sir Isaac Newton, and yet science changes every day. And so we have a chance to learn and grow, and there’s lots of new things. And, as you know, I love current events, and so that’s important to me.

“Just to give you an example, there was this crazy thing that happened in Texas, this flood (last week), and, obviously, there’s human interest, and it’s a tragedy, but there’s so much science tied up in that story. How could they have been better prepared? Was the forecasting correct? Could the river have been done in a different way? And so those are the sort of things that I like to bring into a science class.”

That life application is one of the things that has kept teaching science interesting for Bernhisel.

“I want to make science living and relevant,” he said. “I think the important thing is that every teacher reaches students in unique ways. I worry sometimes when the Wyoming education (system) wants us to all sort of be robots and teach the exact same thing in the exact same way using the exact same methods. But, you know, I teach in a different way, and the teacher next door teaches in their own unique way, and since students are unique in how they learn and process, then hopefully we’re reaching them in as many ways as possible.

“My emphasis in science became the physical sciences, physics and chemistry, which are more math based. That became my go to. In small schools, we do a lot (of different things), and so the combining of science, math and a lot of technology and current events was kind of my favorite.”

After teaching science for several years but also helping with technology in the school, Bernhisel earned a master’s degree in computer education in 2005 from Lesley University and started teaching a class in multimedia, Photoshop, video editing and the like. And he also moved into the library part-time as the school librarian.

“For me, when new challenges and new opportunities became available, I was happy for another option,” he said. “I think we all look for a new challenge, a new thing. And so being in the library, teaching computers, doing web pages, that helped me stay motivated, and hopefully I filled a need for the school or the district.”

Bernhisel didn’t just teach technology, he has been the school computer and tech troubleshooter for many years, helping staff members during his prep period, at lunch or before or after school.

“It was just something I loved and something that I was available to do,” he said. “I don’t ever think the sign outside my classroom said, ‘tech guy.’ But I’m good at it. I get how computers work and how media connects and stuff, and so I was in the building, and I was happy to help.

“I think my skill is this: I really tried hard to keep up with technology. I still do. I don’t think in the 36 years that I’ve been in education there has been a time in world history where there’s been more advancements in science, in technology, in even educational theory, and I always wanted to keep my head above water with all those things.

“Some teachers don’t want to learn a new tech skill because it’s hard. There’s the kind of teacher that just wants to teach the same way they’ve done for the last 20 years, and I always tried to stay ahead of that.”

For the past several years, Bernhisel has taught three periods of multimedia and one period of physics plus three hours in the library.

The decision

Now 61 years old with 36 years of teaching under his belt, Bernhisel actually could have retired about six years ago under the Wyoming system, but he didn’t want to. He enjoyed teaching too much. But finally, he came to a decision that 2024-25 would be his last year in the classroom and library.

“(Some teachers) have retired the first minute they could, whereas I taught six more years,” he said. “There’s all the financial things and, you know, all the insurance. All those things are factors, I guess, but I will say this: Sally didn’t really want me to retire until I had a plan of what I was going to do, and I agree that that’s probably (been) the best thing for my mental health. It’s important to me to be active and learning and not watching game shows.”

As he steps away, the future is bright with numerous opportunities to continue to stay active, Bernhisel said, including writing. And he said he has tremendous love and respect for his wife, Sally, the College and Career Coordinator for School District No. 1.

“I recognize that it is a rare gift to be able to retire, be healthy, and have the blessing to decide whatever I want to do. That doesn’t happen very often,” he said. “Sally and I have been married for almost 40 years, and that’s like 2 percent odds, and I’m very aware that I’ve been given a rare thing.

“Sally stayed home with our kids till they were in kindergarten, till our baby, Melissa, was in kindergarten. And I so appreciate that she did that, and I think she made a difference specifically in Melissa’s life. I don’t know if Melissa would be alive today (cystic fibrosis) if it wasn’t for everything Sally did for Melissa. Her condition is phenomenal.”

Three of the four Bernhisel children have moved to the Pacific Northwest. Oldest daughter Alyson Hammond is a middle school English teacher in Snohomish, Washington, and has four daughters. Daughter Emily Harker is a small business owner (wood design) and stay-at-home mom with two sons in Logan, Utah. Son Michael is a school counselor at a Spanish immersion elementary school in Everett, Washington, and daughter Melissa is a manager for Deloitte (accounting company) in Seattle.

Bernhisel has written trivia questions for 40 years, and he’s working on a couple of books, he said, one about historic bridges and another on early church history. He also loves woodworking and has a shop at his home in Cowley. He recently built a greenhouse, as well.

And then there’s running, a lifelong passion. Bernhisel has been running his whole life. He’s run 15 regular marathons, including the Boston Marathon, and eight ultra marathons, the longest 50 miles. And his love of running turned into a long career as a coach, in which he was able to share that passion with others.

“I don’t think there’s any better way to connect with a student than one on one running down a county road in a cross-country practice,” he said. “I think that’s why we have sports still in schools, because coaches can interact with students in unique and more personal ways.

“Again, I just can’t emphasize it enough, it really is a blessing and a gift to even be able to make these choices, you know? And I am aware of that gift, and I want to find ways to serve, also.”

He summed up by stating, “I couldn’t be more grateful to work alongside such dedicated principals and exceptional teachers. But most of all, I’m honored to be part of a school with such an outstanding and diverse group of students. If our students could truly see how deeply the RMMHS faculty cares about them, both now and for their future, they’d understand just how committed we are to helping them succeed.”