Serving others can be a task filled with high reward and honor as it has the capability of introducing you to new challenges that can help shape you into a better individual overall. Through our interactions with others and our life experiences, the process of growth is made more plausible for everyone who experiences these joys of everyday life.

No matter what path life takes us on, the important part is that for a brief moment or for an extended period of time, we encounter a whole range of people with different stories and backgrounds. It is important that we capture those moments by pulling whatever we can out of them to learn; because through those encounters, we can learn a lot.

Someone in particular stands out in this degree. While balancing two aspects of life that can both be a great joy and a huge difficulty at the same time, students are able to learn from him and have learned how to admire him as both a teacher and a person. As a former student of Mark Faust, I have been able to truly experience the way he perceives life through things that would seem simple upon first glance. Reading a book, analyzing text, answering questions, and writing an essay now has a significantly different light to it after being a student in Faust’s junior English class just last year. I can say with confidence that I left his classroom with a greater appreciation and enjoyment of literature and finding great meaning just by digging a little deeper into things.

To get into the basics, Faust grew up in San Diego, California with 4 brothers and a sister. In 1989 he moved to Arizona and married his wife, Tracy, 9 years later. They currently have 4 dogs, whom Faust refers to as their “kids.” Faust began his teaching career in 1997. He has been a teacher for 19 years and has also been an administrator for four years. Prior to his current standing 3 years at Ridge, he spent 20 years at Sunrise Mountain High School.

What really influenced Faust’s decision to teach was his experience as a coach for football, wrestling, and track back in 1992 at Sinagua High School, during his junior year at NAU. He was the head coach of both wrestling and track when he was 22. The two years spent coaching made him realize that teaching high school was what he wanted to do, and so his teaching journey began with his practicums in biology and English. When he isn’t occupied by work, Faust enjoys reading, traveling, and “tasting the food of the world.”

Faust is commonly known as the AP Literature and Composition (APLAC) instructor at our school. It is also commonly known that this is not an easy class. Faust enters each school year with the goal of helping everyone to earn a 5 on the AP test. However, this is no simple task. To keep his students at the top of their game, Faust encourages his students to pursue and practice perfection and to focus on the fundamentals of the course. He believes that any failure is extremely important and that persistence and perseverance will keep students on a steady path towards the 5 on the test.

“I have always prided myself on holding students to an exceptionally high standard,” Faust stated. “Each year I am amazed of the growth and persistence demonstrated by the students who accept the challenge and rigor of the course. It is incredibly challenging for the students and for myself– but the reward is great.”

As a former student, I often reflect on how in detail he would go into a lesson, assignment, or book. His passion for, not only teaching, but also for what he taught, made him such an engaging instructor. His excitement was contagious in my opinion, and I was always eager to find out what interesting things awaited us that day.

Another fantastic trait of Faust is that he is someone who finds great reward in serving others. In addition to being a teacher, he serves in the United States military.

“As a teacher and a coach I live a life of service– the military is just another great extension of that service in my life,” Faust said. “It gives me great pride to wear the uniform and to train the future leaders of the United States Army.”

Faust’s military career did not begin until he was 30 years old. Then, he already had 3 years of teaching experience and had his bachelor’s degree. He entered the military as an E-4/Specialist. He mentioned that his promotions throughout the years have come fairly quickly and for the past 3 years, he has stood as a Master Sergeant (E8) and is the Officer Candidate School (OCS) First Sergeant (1SG).

Some of Faust’s roles include various training missions in which he must travel to on multiple occasions. Every month, he attends drill, or training, for 3 days. For 9 weeks during the summer, he is a Platoon Trainer for the Federal Officer Candidate School in South Dakota. Over the past 2 years, he has conducted 3 training missions with Kazakhstan, the international state partner for the Arizona National Guard. Throughout his various experiences, he has come to have an extraordinary appreciation for each mission and person he has encountered.

“During my combat deployments I was amazed to bear witness to the average everyday men and women in uniform who performed extraordinary tasks, demonstrating exceptional bravery and valor in the most chaotic and challenging of situations,” Faust stated.

With such an active involvement in both of these two aspects of life, it is natural that the ideologies of both would carry into the other. Managing the two can be a large commitment, but Faust is able to maintain it through a very great way of thought. In the words of LTC Hal Moore from We Were Soldiers Once, Faust relayed: “I hope that being good at one makes me better at the other.”

“Both jobs are a commitment to service and are about developing young adults into future leaders,” Faust explained.

He also finds that management comes easier when one is busier. He believes that the more you have to do, the better you will get at time management, and you will soon learn how to fully maximize the minutes of every day.

Being in the military has certainly carried out into Faust’s classroom. He said this is largely due to what he learned about Task and Purpose and Mission, something commonly stressed in the military. He uses its strategies to help his students along through various things.

“I bring that mindset into my classroom always focusing on the mission of growing and developing my students and doing that through specified tasks with identified and measurable tasks,” Faust stated.

Looking over life as a teacher as well as a member of the military, Faust has learned to keep family and faith at the center of his life. After serving in Iraq for a combat tour, he was really able to realize the importance of prioritizing and perspective, which he tries to bring out and appreciate every day and in every relationship.

When I look back on last year in Faust’s English class, it is completely evident that he carries out this mindset with him in all aspects of life. I have appreciated how Faust can make a simple novel explode with significance, beauty, and meaning. For that I credit him with being one of the greatest English teachers I have had by far in my overall school experience, and for giving me the gift of searching deeper and appreciating life on a wider scale.