Gary Morsches is one of the newest editions to the Hillsboro High School Staff. He is currently teaching the course Math Reasoning & Decision Making, which he calls “Math for Life.” Mr. Morsches was originally a chemical engineer that worked at oil refineries before getting his MBA and began trading energy and commodities. He then moved into the power market and ran power plants, trading power, and natural gases. After that, he became a consultant and began traveling all over the world to help companies with energy strategies. He now teaches here at Hillsboro High School, even coming out of retirement to do so.
Being a new teacher who is doing an uncommon course, Mr. Morsches is preparing a curriculum to help his students prepare for life and adulthood with what he likes to call “Math for Life”. The curriculum he’s set up includes parts of personal finance, loans, banking, credit, buying a car, and anything else needed to survive in the world.
“It’s like coaching.” Morsches responded when asked about teaching.
“You have a coach, a basketball team, and 14 kids on the team. You have a couple of superstars who are really good. You have many okay kids who can dribble well. One’s a good shooter. One’s a good passer. One can rebound okay. And then you got kids that some of them just don’t really wanna be there. They’re all in a team, but you’re trying to meld this team into a cohesive unit.”
Morsches was previously a coaching other states. When asked about his previous coaching experience he responded,
“I’ve coached basketball, golf, tennis, soccer, and softball over the years. Kids, high school, and stuff like that. I was also a referee. I’m a certified basketball referee. I used a referee in Georgia and Ohio. I haven’t gotten my certification yet in Tennessee, but the reality is I do wanna coach. I like coaching quite a bit.”
Mr. Morsches lives by the motto, “If you’re gonna do it, do it right, or don’t do it at all,” which he got from his father.
“I wanna do it as best I can. Otherwise, I’m not gonna do it. So I try to give it a 100% with whatever I try to do, whether it’s teaching, playing sports, or mowing the lawn, whatever I do, I try to instill that or try to live by doing it the best I can.”
Mr. Morsches was asked about what he does in his free time to which he responded,
“My wife and I like to travel quite a bit. We go to a lot of restaurants and shop. That kind of thing. But my passion is sports. I play basketball, golf, and played pickleball and tennis. So, I’m pretty active in all those sports. In fact, I played in the basketball league until I moved here.”
Morsches has explored many job opportunities in different states such as Texas, Delaware, and Georgia, with his hometown being Toledo, Ohio. After retiring, him and his wife decided to move to Tennessee.
“We like Tennessee. We have some family here, and we decided to come back to Nashville and are enjoying it quite a bit.”
“What is your favorite movie?”
“Oh, The Shawshank Redemption. It is a great movie, and kinda historical. It’s about an unjust guy that was unjustly imprisoned in a pretty tough prison who befriended a black gentleman who was there. And it was very interesting to see how they bonded together, how they grew together, how the relationship expanded, how these two people that were on opposite ends of the world have come together and became such tight friends. And it’s just a really interesting movie. It’s a great movie.”
“What kind of music do you listen to?”
“I’m becoming a country western fan with my wife, but I’m an alternate rock, progressive rock, kind of a kind of person.
I really don’t have a favorite song. I mean, I’m a Bruce Springsteen guy. Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen. Nobody but me is gonna know that song.”
“If you could start a business without any financial burden, what would it be?”
“I think the business I’d like to start would be, like a hospital or something, you know, a super hospital that could help people. It’d make a difference, an impact on people’s lives and livelihood. That’s kinda what I what I dig right now is trying to make an impact on people and for the better, for the betterment of society, for the betterment of community, for the betterment of people. So, I’d like to figure something out, hospital, clinic, whatever, that was easy to work with for folks. They would come, could help them, and do good.”