Jeff Swisher is the new social studies teacher here at Griffith. He teaches AP U.S. History (APUSH) and dual credit World History through Purdue Northwest. He came here because he preferred the close-knit community of a smaller school, and he knew many of his former colleagues from Gavit. He also wanted to focus solely on teaching social studies.
For ten years in Hammond, he taught government and American history and instructed a little bit of AP computer science, AP computer science principles, computer club, and robotics.
When Swisher attended Chesterton High School in the early 80s, he was majorly involved in music: He played the trumpet and tuba and was in all the music programs he could be in. Then in his senior year they received their first computers, and since there was nobody to teach computers, they had to be self-taught with magazines. That’s where his love for computers came from: Figuring out how they worked.
Swisher later attended college at Taylor University and graduated with a major in computer science and a minor in math.
Right after college and before getting into teaching, Swisher moved to Europe to work on computers. Later, he owned part of a computer consulting company in Chicago (Dunn Solutions Group) for twenty years, where he acted as the director of technical services.
During that time, he worked on Verizon’s voicemail system, helped design websites like Orbitz and Cars.com, and worked on software for the U.S. Space Command and Raytheon.
After computer consulting, Swisher returned to college to get a degree in teaching. He felt that he could approach history and government differently than his old teachers did, and so he became a teacher.
Swisher finds interest in problem-solving and figuring out how things work, though it might come as a surprise to some that he has never been interested in engineering. In his time working in Europe, he has visited all European countries, except for Albania. He also, apparently, has a lot to talk about batteries.
Swisher’s message to live by is to “Never stop learning.” He says, “There’s always an opportunity to learn something new, and even I’m still learning things every day.”
If you see him in the halls, say hello, and maybe even strike up a conversation!
