BY BEN GORMAN

Not everyone knows the man, but everyone this year knows the beard. Mr. Larry Goetz, the teacher of the popular Digital Video Productions class is starting his 23rd year in the Mariemont City Schools District.

According to most students, Goetz now holds the most sought- after class at Mariemont, but he didn’t always hold this position. He began his teaching career with ten years in the parochial school system. Goetz says, “I was principal at Cardinal Pacelli for four years.”

Then he moved on to the Mariemont District. He started his first full time teaching job with the district as a sixth grade teacher at Fairfax. “My big thing was science,” Goetz says, “We did all kinds of projects.”

He continued his journey to the Junior High where he taught technology. He recalls the words of Coach Summerville, “He called me Coach of the Computers.”  According to Goetz, he tried to work video projects into his class, and whether he knew it or not, Dig Vid was born.

Dr. James Renner was a big fan of what Goetz was doing. “He asked if I would do a bell of video production at the high school,” Goetz remembers. The class was such a success that the next year he was teaching at the high school full time.

Today, he not only teaches, but is also the webmaster, stage manager, technology troubleshooter, in charge of Progressbook, and does various other jobs for the school district. Although he has so much to pick from, he says his favorite part about working here is “watching students develop creativity over time.”

Even though he is very busy with loads of school work, Goetz still finds time for the things he loves. He attends plays, community events, reads, gardens, goes for walks, and follows the Reds. He has a new love for Tennessee football. He can join fellow fans, such as junior Neal Stehling, when he mentioned, “I’m part of Volunteer Nation.” Above all else, he enjoys spending time with his four kids and two grandchildren.

Everyone has a unique past behind their current lives. Goetz’s is especially intriguing. “I had 22 years as a locomotive engineer” he says, “I ran Amtrak, I did all that stuff.” Many wonder how he could have possibly fit this into his already busy past work life. For many of these years, he worked as a teacher simultaneously. He said, “I look back on those years like a veteran looks at his time in the service: it was a much different life.”

A man, who has worked in the system for such a long time, may be thinking about retirement. Goetz says that the time will come soon, but he isn’t 100 percent sure of when. He hopes to be like one of his students. “I’ve had some ideas about my own personal movies,” he says.

Words of retirement come to seniors Evan Hafley and Cole Decamp as bad news. Decamp says, “He’s got the big three. He’s very sensitive and good looking and knows how to party.” A boy who is such a big fan of the man can’t see the school without him. “The school will shut down,” he says.

Hafley has an even more pessimistic attitude about the future absence of Goetz. He tells us, “The gates of Hell will open.”