Prosser takes good memories with him

Jarudd Prosser will be resigning from Taft High school at the end of the school year, and he will then go to Stockdale High school in Bakersfield where he will continue teach and coach. Prosser will also be teaching an O.C.I. class there. Prosser’s career at TUHS began in the 2010/11 school year, serving 8-years with much of his personal time going into making sure that Taft High was a place where students felt at home and had fun. Prosser was first hired at Buena Vista High school, where he taught health, P.E., and Life Skills. Prosser was the J.V. football defensive coordinator and was the J.V. assistant baseball coach for his first two years. He then moved to the main campus in his third year. Prosser would teach P.E. for Taft High as well as strong body athletic P.E. and then took up the mantle as the head varsity football coach, which he held for three years. During the current year, Prosser was the co-head J.V. basketball coach. His career at Taft High has been active in activities such as the Tough Guy Volleyball tournaments, as well Powder Puff, and he has enjoyed the open gym on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Prosser would like to thank the students and staff for, “helping me be accepting of people and learn patience in and out of the classroom.”

Prosser was then inquired to what had the most impact on him throughout his 8-year career, as stated, referring to the school shooting that took place at Taft High, “Probably the most impact, was the day of the incident, I’ll call it. That just kinda opens your eyes and gives you a perspective. It kinda realigns your priorities with you never know because things happen fast and can be completely unpredictable; in a blink of an eye things can change quickly.” Prosser was then asked what he has done for the school, students, and staff that community did not know about, to which he said, “Well probably the biggest thing is the last four years is on Tuesdays and Thursdays, been opening the gym during lunch time…and there’s a group of kids who go to have lunch, be active, and hang out. So it’s just something to keep kids active and together. Then there’s the occasional kids, after I stopped coaching here…they would ask me how they could get better at certain things, mainly football-related and I’d take some time to give them some drills and pointers, with some things to think about to improve their game.”

Prosser then was asked about how resigning would affect him on a personal level. He responded with, “Whenever you have something in your life that you don’t have control over, there’s a little bit of uneasiness to it. You go through a course of emotions. You go from a little bit of anger to sadness just because you don’t have control over it and so you feel like something was taken from you that you didn’t want to give up. And so you kinda work as you go through all these different types of emotions as time goes on…and at the end of the day I have good memories at Taft High and that’s what I carry with me.” Prosser then reflected on what his most memorable moment was, “To be honest, it was the day I was hired and then my first official day. Then I just started teaching because I felt like I had just signed my last contract ever that I knew what I was going to do for the next 30-years of my life and that was going to be a Taft High Wildcat. It was a pleasant surprise to get hired here at Taft and I was very fortunate.”

Prosser was finally asked about how he felt about the current state of Taft High as he stated, “…It saddens me not just from any one decision that has been made but just to see the direction and to see Taft High and lack for a better word, suffer, and the low morale and I feel like the kids feel it, so that saddens me.” Prosser was asked what he would miss most about TUHS, to which he replied, “Just the small town feel, family type atmosphere…knowing the kids, knowing their brothers and sisters as they come through the school and just the closeness of the staff. And it being a one-town school.” Prosser is, “…sad to say goodbye to all his friends in the students and staff,” but his career is still young and, “Only time will tell…” where it goes from here.