Coach Justin Butler may seem like a new face here at Heritage High School, but is he really? For those who don’t know, at Heritage High School juniors and seniors have the opportunity to leave school during the day to go work and earn money, as well as an ‘A’ (hopefully). As the coordinator for this program, Butler hopes to help students find jobs when they need it, and that they find jobs they will enjoy. “I hope that they get into a job that’s a career field that they’re interested in, and they can build some experience in that and kind of try it out and see if it’s really what they want to do with their lives,” he said.
Graduating from the University of Georgia and getting his Masters from Jones International, Butler started out working for private industries after his post secondary education. He worked for the state in regulation, and worked for several waste companies, which has given him industrial experience, making him the perfect candidate for work based learning.
About 10-12 years ago, Butler came to work for Heritage High School and taught science. “When I first started teaching, I taught one semester at Heritage and one semester at LFO. I’ve always enjoyed Heritage and just how welcoming it is and how friendly everyone is,” Butler said. Recently, he taught Agriculture at Heritage Middle School, but after a couple years of that he was ready to return to Heritage High School. “Part of the reason I moved from the middle school back to high school was because I prefer to work with high school students,” he said.
On top of being the school’s work-based learning coordinator, he is also the Girls’ Soccer coach, so he stays pretty busy. “I enjoy the relationships you get to build, and especially as a coach, the relationships you build with your players is really a special thing, and I’m excited about being able to do that,” Butler said.
When he’s not busy at school, you can find him playing video games like, “Baldur’s Gate 3” with his family. He also likes to go fishing and to play sports like football or soccer—which he has been playing since high school where he played with Dr. Kendal Shipley, who also teaches at Heritage.
“I think that learning should be fun and it should be interactive, and I’ve always tried to do that as best I can,” remarked Butler.
Although this school has seen Butler walk these hallways before, we can’t wait to see what he does with this fresh start at Heritage High School. So if you see him in the hallways, or in his office, make sure to stop and give him a warm welcome back to HHS.
