BonnerSprings.com

Industrial technology teacher Kris Munsch would describe himself as a fixer-upper at heart; someone who is always looking to take a project that needs some work and mold it into its utmost potential.

But he says, once he’s done that, he’s ready to move on to the next project, and this is why the former business owner and current Bonner Springs High School teacher has submitted his resignation effective when school is out in May.

“I’m ready for the next challenge,” Munsch said of his decision to resign. “It’s just kind of who I am. That’s kind of just how my life’s been. I took on a business and then moved to the next one.”

Before becoming a teacher, Munsch had owned everything, for a few years at a time, from a nightclub to a laundry mat, though his true calling had always been clear to him.

“I had always wanted to be a school teacher, since high school,” Munsch said. “I had never finished my teaching degree, and (teaching) wasn’t right for me yet. I wasn’t patient enough yet.”

It wasn’t until his son Blake was killed in a car accident five years ago that he decided it was time to complete his teaching degree and begin the career path he had always wanted to take.

“I wanted to focus on something where I thought I could make a difference,” he said.

Munsch was also offered a position at Shawnee Mission North when the job offer from BSHS came to him three years ago, but his ever-present desire to fix things made it clear to him which position he should accept. The woodworking shop at BSHS had all the elements he was looking for.

“It was bad when I came in here,” Munsch said of the woodworking shop he would be overseeing as teacher of woods, drafting and robotics for the next three years. “It was the bad house on the block that needed fixed up … (Shawnee Mission North) just didn’t seem to have the personal challenge that this place did. It was one of the nicer houses on the block.”

Since accepting the offer at BSHS, Munsch has added new machinery, including a high-powered CNC router table that cuts into wood automatically, and also pushed his students to do their best in projects that have ranged from helping to build cabinets for the new concession stand at David Jaynes Stadium to countertops for the front office at BSHS. He said it was these students he worked with during the years he would miss the most, though he joked that some of them might not miss him so much.

“I’ve probably got some kids who are glad to see me go,” he said with a laugh. “I push them pretty hard.”

Next for Munsch is a teaching job in the Blue Valley school district, teaching integrated computer manufacturing at the Center for Advanced Professional Studies. The center allows high school juniors and seniors to take additional classes that have a more real-world application. In the new position, Munsch will be doing a lot of what he is doing now, but at a higher level.

“It’s like taking this program I’m currently in and putting it on steroids,” he said.

He is looking forward to this next challenge, but said he won’t forget his experience in the Bonner district.

“It’s just the support of this entire community that’s been beyond what I expected, not just as teacher but as a person; as a kind of parent away from parents, you know, for kids,” Munsch said. “The level of respect they’ve given me in helping their kids get through some tough things, that’s tough stuff to walk away from.”

Munsch said he expected to move on from Blue Valley in a few years, just as he always had. His top most goal in life is to one day oversee a school or schools as a principal or superintendent. In positions such as these, he said, he could really make that big difference.

“That’s my vision; to move to that level,” Munsch said. “Make impact. The ripple in the pond, that’s what I love doing.”

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