Mr. Ripperger, one of the assistant principals at HHS, has officially announced his plans to retire at the end of this school year. Photo by Jenna Ochsner.
After 25 years with Hastings Public Schools, Mr. Ripperger announced his retirement at the beginning of March.
Although Ripperger has spent the last 25 years with HPS, Ripperger has served in education for a total of 32 years. After graduating college, he started his education career in Wagner, South Dakota where he taught senior government and 8th-grade Civics and American History for three years. After his time in Wagner, he moved to Ainsworth, Nebraska where he taught sophomore geography for five years before moving to Hastings in 1998.
“There’s good and bad with every job, and I don’t know why it is, it just seems like with me I tend to, if you look back on my career, like every 10 years I just need something to stimulate. I stayed in the same profession, just some new challenges,” Ripperger said.
Ripperger’s first job with Hastings Public Schools was at Hastings Middle School where he taught as a social studies teacher for three years. He then moved to HHS to be a weights coach for 11 years before moving to his current position as an assistant principal.
“In the weights room and as an administrator, he’s very serious about his job. And the thing about Mr. Ripperger is that he follows through. If I needed his help, or as far as administration, he always is going to follow through and be complete with it, like finish it strong and I guess thorough. He’s real thorough and precise,” Kendra Laux said.
There are a few reasons why Ripperger decided to take his current job as an assistant principal.
“Well, I had the degree for a long time… So there’s layers to [why I decided to take the job]. One had to do with my daughter. I wanted to have the time and availability to go and see her compete sports. It’s just a position where you can help a lot of kids, and I felt like it was time for me to transition into that,” Ripperger said.
In addition to his education career, Ripperger has also had a 22-year-long coaching career.
“I’ve been involved in sports since I can remember. So I mean, I played college sports, coached in college for a couple of years, and then I coached in my first community which was Wagner, South Dakota and then I coached in my second community which was Ainsworth, Nebraska, and then obviously I coached [at HHS],” Ripperger said.
Ripperger’s coaching career included serving as an assistant football coach for the high school for six years and as the head football coach for eight years during his time at the middle school and as the high school weights coach. Throughout his career, he also coached middle school track, volleyball, and basketball.
“[My] favorite memory while I was at HPS, I would have to say all the years of coaching. I don’t have one particular memory, but there’s a lot of highs and lows in the coaching profession,” Ripperger said.
Ripperger’s favorite memory from his current job also isn’t a specific memory, but a group of memories instead.
“I think you’ve gotta go back to, and again, it’s not one single memory. I’ve had a lot of kids come into this office that were very, very upset with me because I had to give them consequences to their behaviors. Then seeing them in public and knowing that over time, especially if they’ve been in here a lot, we’ve developed a relationship of respect and they’ll talk to me and they’re appreciative of things. They’re also apologetic you know, they just know they made mistakes when they were kids and you got to let that go. I mean, I always try to let that go,” Ripperger said. “Every day is a fresh start with me, especially when it comes with kids and behaviors. But just seeing them again, like out in the community, being productive citizens, working a job, and being respectful is probably my most enjoyable memories when I see that.”
Looking back on his time at HPS, Ripperger hopes to have developed some long-lasting relationships with students and left the places he’s been better than how he found them.
“I’m happy for him. He’s put in his time, and he has made a mark at Hastings High, he’s been here a long time. And I think he does really well at what he does and anything that he commits to he gives 100% and gives it his all, and that’s what he’s done here. So I am happy that he can leave on a good note and go enjoy retirement,” Laux said.
