By Kaylina Curtis
The Centennialight
Major John Freeburg is currently a Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) instructor who is retiring from Centennial High School where he has been working for the past 15 years.
Freeburg is retiring because he wants to enjoy his free time doing things such as skiing and fixing things on his ranch. He is also looking forward to exploring more opportunities, one of those being his own program, Ccube Training. This program is a non-profit organization where students get to learn how computers work and ultimately allowing them a break from their studies.
Before Freeburg was an instructor at Centennial, he was in the army as an officer. He worked with people in Africa to train their army before retiring in 2007.
After he retired from the army, he never planned on being an instructor; but one day his friend told him about how Centennial was needing a senior army instructor and the staff hired him on the spot.
Freeburg said, "I didn’t really know how to teach, I had to learn that every teacher lives for the moment where the students go, 'I get it!'" He shared he has learned that "a teacher's job isn’t about teaching subjects, but critical thinking."
The story which impacted him most as a teacher is that of a student who attended Centennial in 1929, David Parker (founder of HP).
Freeburg shared, "[Parker] grew up in the generation where electricity wasn't really a thing, so no teachers could teach him about it; but regardless of that fact he became a big success with growing a computer manufacturing company. Someone taught him how to identify opportunities and new horizons.”
Having the ability to hangout with all the students and learn about them is Freeburg's favorite thing about teaching. He shared he believes he hangs out at school doing things for the JROTC program than being at home.
One big thing that he wishes for the JROTC program is to be able to find a new identity. Currently, the program focuses on teaching students about financing, resumes, jobs, and responsibility. They also do a medical unit, and volunteer at many events.
The reason why Freeburg wants the program to find a new identity is because they lost two of their most known teams: Raiders team and Rifle team. He hopes that they find a new and fun way to show their identity because he strongly believes that the JROTC program can always improve and grow.
Major John Freeburg was born and raised in Sterling, Colorado. He went to Sterling High School (“GO TIGERS!”), and graduated from University of Wyoming.
One last quote that he wanted to say to the new class and graduating class is that they should, “Play hard, work hard.”
