Any student passing through D hall has likely wondered, “who is that guy with the guitar?” The answer is gifted teacher Kurt Sherry, whose musical talents are only one part of his engaging personality. 

Sherry joined the DHS staff this year as a new gifted educator, although he has been teaching for 17 years. Like his place at DHS, his guitar is new, but he has been honing his skills for years.

“I bought my first bass guitar when I was 15, so I taught myself how to play then,” he said. “So it’s just something that I enjoy doing, frankly.”

While it may not look like a typical guitar, Sherry’s Martin Backpacker keeps his six-string talents strong. 

“Keeping a guitar in my room makes it easy for me to grab it and play a little bit, just keep some of the exercise going,” Sherry said. 

While being known as “that teacher with the guitar” was not Sherry’s plan, he still finds enjoyment in how it can impact students.

“It’s just sort of entertaining for me, mainly, but it does seem to generally do a good thing in terms of the students,” Sherry said. 

Along with his guitar playing, which does continue during classes, he has various other eccentric items in his classroom, including Lightsabers, RPG board games, a stuffed corgi, a paper maché panda aptly named Mr. Panda and a Magic 8 Ball that students are required to shake in order to gain permission to exit the classroom.

While it may be nonstandard to use a children’s toy to determine bathroom policy, it livens up classes. 

“It’s just a fun item to have, so if somebody wants to go, ‘Oh, let’s see what the Magic 8 Ball says,’ you know. I’s just a nice little decision-making thing,” Sherry said. 

Beyond the physical aspects of Sherry’s classroom, his teaching style keeps his students entertained and engaged.

“I like to keep it reasonably entertaining, reasonably interactive,” he aid. 

While his class may not be typical, Sherry embraces the things that make him unique.

“When I was in high school, I had one of those college essays where the prompt was, ‘Describe yourself,’ … so I asked this girl to describe me.… She said, ‘You look at the world from a 63-degree angle because 45 degrees would be too normal for you,’” Sherry said.