Walking into my old elementary school, Knapp Elementary, I was overcome with a sense of familiarity. Even with rumors of new schedules, rules and events, I still felt that sense like I had never left Knapp. I felt even more at home when I was immediately greeted by the ever prompt gym teacher, Mr. David Sayers.
Mr. Sayers was the first teacher that popped into my head after we were assigned to interview teachers from the past, or “mature” teachers as Sayers would say. In my opinion, Sayers is the one of the most popular teachers at Knapp because every student in the school has been taught by him. Every student gets to enjoy and look forward to gym class but also learn important fitness and sports education. Sayers popped into my head first because he provided both of the factors of fun and education.
Sayers got his start as the famous gym teacher at Knapp by first teaching right here at North Penn High School. Sayers explains that he was influenced by Mrs. Robinson, a swimming and heath teacher here, and Sayers said “due to her excellent teaching, she influenced me to have this as my career.” Sayers later went to receive his physical education degree at Temple University and the rest is history.
When asked if anything new has happened in his life recently, Sayers didn’t really have much to say and replied with “well I got elbow surgery but I’m sure nobody cares about that.” Sayers later responded that he is training his son who is going out for a triathlon, and his daughter is a prominent field hockey player here at the high school. Sayers also wanted to add that his “new goatee is getting rave reviews.”
I also wanted Sayers to reflect on the obvious changes at Knapp due to their relatively new principal, Mr. Maza, who took the place of the legendary Mr. Feeley. Feeley was principal at Knapp for many years and filling his shoes wasn’t going to come without a few changes. Sayers mentioned the relatively new number day sequences at Knapp, which he said “is great because it adds more classes which means more gym classes”. Sayers also mentioned that the technology at Knapp has greatly improved and there is technology in every class, “even in gym class.”
Christmas comes once a year and so does Olympic Day and that day is known as Sayers’ Christmas. Sayers has a couple of new rituals with the athletic affair, which include new themes each year (like Wild West, pirate theme) and new challenging obstacles.
Sayers has countless fond memories at Knapp, including “the dunk tank, which we got rid of, the May fair, the all school kickball game, and 5th grade March Madness.” Sayers’ new favorite event at Knapp is the dances at the fall festival they have at Knapp. I also asked Sayers what his doting memories were of my class at Knapp, class of 2007. Sayers took a second to answer but finally replied with “the one thing I remember about that crew was the high level of enthusiasm from the 2007 6th graders. They had such great enthusiasm but when they needed to listen, they would stop what they were doing and become model student. I’ll always remember that about those students.”