Feature Story

Falling head first through a tree, crashing through branches, thinking his life would be gone in the blink of an eye. Then, miraculously, the parachute strapped to his back gets caught, flipping him right-side up and slamming him into the tree trunk, giving him the opportunity to live another day. But, none of this would stop John Spencer from doing what he loves. The fit, 52-year-old, chemistry teacher is passionate about many things, however he couldn’t decide between his two favorite; teaching and firefighting. Spencer was inspired by his college forestry professor to earn a degree in forestry and become a firefighter. Aside from “smoke jumping”, Spencer is a kicking coach for the WHS football team, he coaches soccer, and has been teaching at Wenatchee High School for 26 years. He enjoys teaching because he likes working with kids and he likes “seeing students expand their ability to think at a higher level.” Firefighting has been very rewarding to Spencer. “I like the challenge of stopping a menacing threat to life and property,” he says. Earlier this year Spencer helped extinguish the blaze in Wenatchee that was caused by multiple lighting strikes. The fire scorched a total of 56,291 acres of land. Spencer may have 30 years of stories to tell about his firefighting days, but teaching has brought him great memories too. Spencer says his craziest experience while teaching was when “six students came through my door and tried to attack me with buckets of water, squirt guns, and water balloons.” This teacher is a real prankster, and his students like to get back at him for it. Recently, about 10 students from his class snuck into his room, set up 10 Christmas trees and also hung stools from the ceiling. He also enjoys squirting his students with a water gun when they’re talking or not paying attention. Spencer finds his hobbies to be rewarding. He is able to share his passion for firefighting with his smoke jumping buddies and shares his love for