Students at Del Val know James Gessner as a physics teacher who teaches all levels from college prep to Advanced Placement; however, many students don’t know about Gessner’s fascinating past: he was once a commercial airline pilot who flew for Trans World Airlines.
During his career in aviation, Gessner went from being a flight instructor to a small commuter airline pilot. To prepare for this career, he attended a four year college in Arizona. After college, Gessner began flying.
Gessner described a day of flying as “un-typical,” saying what happened on a day-to-day basis varied. Although, mornings would start out similarly.
“Once you get to the airport, you go through security,” Gessner said. “Then, you go down for a briefing to look at the weather, analyze data for the flight [and] then pre-flight the airplane by walking around to make sure everything’s good before takeoff.”
Once everything was ready for flight, he would be off to a new destination every day.
Although Gessner loved being a pilot, he left flying due to the excessive amount of time spent in hotels away from his family and because the airline he flew for was sold. After he ended his career as a pilot, he transitioned to teaching.
“I choose to teach because it is a lot like flying,” Gessner said. “You could have a good day or a bad day. It’s like being a captain of an airplane and the students are like passengers.”
Gessner chose to teach physics specifically for a handful of reasons: he enjoyed physics in college, it was one of his best classes and, prior to becoming a teacher, he was a physics tutor.
“Flying made it easier for me to understand physics because I always had a practical example to go back to,” Gessner said.
Before Gessner was able to teach, he had to go back to school. He went to Raritan Valley Community College for a year to get a degree to become a full-time teacher.
Gessner expressed his love for teaching and the ability to help students that are struggling.
“I like developing relationships with my students and working with the same people every day,” Gessner said.
Gessner is hopeful that he will leave an impression of positivity on his students, just like they have left on him.
“I love my work as a teacher, and, at the end of every year, I am sad because I won’t have those kids again,” Gessner said. “A lot of people are happy to see the end of the year come, but I am not because I will miss the students.”
When looking back, Gessner feels an immense sense of accomplishment for the number of lives he has made a difference in throughout both careers.
