Written By Rylee DeSaulniers
THE MENTALITY KEEPS EVERYONE POSITIVE THOUGH OUT THE SEASON
A er 29 years of teaching
David Rosenthal is nally saying Si- ya to Iowa City West. Rosenthal brought a light to the West halls that will be greatly missed. We were lucky enough to talk to Rosenthal about his favorite memories at West and the plans he has a er retirement.
In the Classroom
Also known as Senor Rosenthal, even if you didn’t have him as a teacher he always goes out of his way to greet anyone and everyone. And as a very important part of the West High family, it wasn’t always
Rosenthals plan to end up as a Spanish teacher in Iowa. “I knew I was either going to be a teacher or an archetiec, but the architect stu didn’t pan out very well when I started taking Caculus and Physics,” Rosenthal said with a laugh. With a long line of educators in his family, he nally decided to be a Spanish teacher a er his college professors turned him on to the subject.
Growing up in Maine his whole life, his rst teaching job kept him on the East Coast, at a private Quaker school in Maryland. “I liked the kind of system the Quaker schools had, so that
famarliarty, really helped me in my rst teaching job,”Rosenthal said.
A er Rosenthal got married he decided to go to graduate school for his masters in foreign language teaching, and that’s when Rosenthal made his way up to Iowa. He rst started at West working alongside a former Spanish teacher, Nancy Patia who was a very important part of his journey to be a foreign language teach-
er. When a permanent job nally opened up in the Iowa City School District he decided to take it, “We knew the school system would be great if we were to raise a family. And that was 29 years ago, and now here I am. A lot led up to where I am today,” Rosenthal said.
As di cult as it may be to learn a foreign language, Rosenthal nds the skills and di erent people it allows him to meet fascinating. “With learning a language there’s di erent thought processes that you go through. You get to learn things that are di erent from what you experience here in the United States,” Rosenthal said. is year he teaches 2 di erent sections of Spansih, Spanish three and Spanish ve, also known as Seal of Biliteracy. And with being a Spanish teacher he has been able to travel to multiple Spanish speaking countries, including Spain.
While being at West for 29 years, Rosenthal has been able to see a lot of changes that the school district has gone through. One being the opening of Liberty High School, which took away
half of West’s population, and the Pandemic in 2020 which changed the way our school runs completely. “ ere’s been a lot of di erent types of issues that come along with education, because it’s always changing. It’s changing with society,” Rosenthal said. In recent years a struggle for Rosenthal in his class is cell phone use. “Not only is it a distraction but it also interferes with the important learning skills and processes that are so important in a language.”
But most importantly, Rosenthal puts in an emphasis on the idea that there are di erent types of learning and di erent opportunities that wait for students when they learn a language, like Spanish.
On the Field
Along with teaching Rosenthal is saying goodbye to coaching a er 28 years with the West High girls soccer team. With two state championships and 13 Mississippi Valley Conference championships, Rosenthal has maintained a constant success in the program, leaving behind
a solid team that will be sad to see him go.
Rosenthals soccer career began at a young age when he was rst introduced to the sport by a man in his hometown that started a boys and girls soccer club. “ ere was a guy named Mike Gallager who came into our town and said soccer was a great sport and he wanted to bring it to our community,” Rosenthal said. “So I began when I was about ve or six years old and have loved it ever since.” He then played during college where he ended his career as a goalie because of a head injury.
Rosenthal fell in love with the game again when he started his rst teaching job in Maryland. As a young teacher at a new school he did everything he could to prove he belonged, including coaching basketball and girls soccer. But coaching soccer is what he really loved, beginning his 3 decade long career in coaching. “I always enjoyed that kind of environment, the idea of one team working together to reach a common goal,” Rosenthal said.
Although he’s retiring from coaching at West he will still continue to coach on the Iowa Club soccer team. He’s decided it’s time to make a clean break from West and for somebody
else to step in and continue to help the girls soccer team grow. “I think it’s time for somebody else to step in and experience the fun that I have had while coaching,” Rosenthal said. And he is happy to be leaving behind an even stronger team than the one he started with.
Retirment
Along with 13 other faculty members, Rosenthal decided to retire this year, a er the District put out a retirement package that he couldn’t turn down. “I was already planning on retiring next year, but when the opportunity came up this year I knew it was the right time,” Rosenthal said. Rosenthals son, Samuel Rosenthal, is an upcoming senior and this along with other reasons seemed like a good time to end his career.
But even though he is leaving West his impact on the community will not stop. Rosenthal has many plans for his retirement. “I’m thinking it would be interesting to write a book that answers a lot of questions that teachers have, and the problems they face,” Rosenthal said. During his time at West, Rosenthal was also very involved in the organization Houses into Homes. He would like to continue
working with that and even help the Hispanic community. “I want to use my Spanish to help the Hispanic community here, and give back while I have all this free time,” Rosenthal said.
roughout his years at West he has become a very important part of our West High family. e Spanish hall will not be the same without him. But although we are sad to see him go, we wish him the best of luck in retirement.
I THINK ITS TIME FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO STEP IN AND EXPIERENCE THE FUN THAT I HAVE HAD WHILE COACHING.
-ROSENTHAL
