At AHS, students commonly consider the staff to be a group with uniform traits and values, homogeneous in almost all aspects. However social studies teacher, Christopher Wheatley, sticks out amongst the rest. Having taught at AHS for about 10 years, almost every student has had a interaction with Wheatley.

Although opinions vary throughout the school, Wheatley has never been referred to as an ordinary teacher, possibly due to his journey to Aspen.

“I grew up in and around Kansas City, going to High School at Shawnee Mission North, continuing to get my undergraduate degree at Kansas State University. I coached debate at Arizona State, however the program was shut down, so I started a band. I loved playing music in the 80’s, but I then moved to Atlanta and continued to teach debate/speech. Finally, in 2005 I moved to Aspen to help start a speech and debate program with some of the teachers in the Aspen School District. So low and behold I ended up staying in Aspen to teach social studies as well as debate and I have been here since,” Wheatley said.

As a child in Kansas, Wheatley had struggled in school, however speech and debate classes helped him overcome challenges that he faced.

“I was a terrible student in school. I am sure I had something such as ADD and/or ADHD, but that was before the ability to diagnose them had been discovered,” Wheatley said. “I do know that speech and debate class taught me how to learn and I have shaped it into my teaching philosophy today. No student will learn until they can talk about it with their own ideas.”

Due to Wheatley’s natural, theatrical style, he teaches each lesson using entertaining and informational presentations, while valuing kindness in order to make him a likeable and approachable teacher.

“I am very passionate about almost everything I do. I love theater and I think that when information is presented in a theatrical and captivating way that it is better received by the students,” Wheatley said. “For my personal values I would say that kindness in at the top. I don’t want to be a teacher that students don’t want to talk to, and I want to give everyone a chance, until they give me a reason not to.”

AHS sophomore, Tullis Burrows, believes that Wheatley is one of the more interesting teachers due to his teaching style, attitude and personality.

“Chris is a very interesting character, he has definitely done a lot in his life and I think that the experiences that he brings to AHS help bring a worldly perspective to all of his students. I think that we are better off as students, and as a community with teachers like Chris who bring new and exciting elements to everyday classes,” Burrows said. “I take debate class with Chris and I believe that he is clearly different that many of my other teachers. He is very passionate about all the subjects that he teaches and it makes it very easy to learn and stay engaged.”