Mike Rust

“They went from chalkboards to overhead projectors to whiteboards to the Chromebooks, but I’ll miss out on the Chromebook,” said Clayton High School math teacher Mike Rust, who plans on retiring at the end of this school year after 27 years of teaching in the District.
“When I got hired, Clayton had a reputation of not hiring new teachers, and people in the area were like, ‘oh don’t even apply, Clayton doesn’t hire new teachers.’ But they did [hire a new teacher] and I got the job.”
Rust originally intended to teach at an international school after gaining a few years of experience from Clayton, “I knew nothing about Clayton, I just knew they had a math opening, so I thought, okay I can teach here for a couple years and then apply to teach at an international school, but it’s so amazing here that 27 years later, 2 years turned into 27 years,” Rust said. Rust credits the long stay to the community in Clayton. “The people I work with, there’s a lot of amazing kids, a lot of amazing families here. So just building those relationships.”
During his years at Clayton, Rust has been very involved outside of the classroom.
“I’ve been coaching track and I’ve coached football here, I’ve coached volleyball. So especially during the track season it’s very busy and don’t get much done around the house.”
Rust credited Clayton’s many academic successes with the dedication of our students of staff. “You look at physics competitions, chemistry competitions, the Globe, I mean, we’re winning awards for everything we do, amazing theater programs, music programs, it’s all incredible so it’s a good place.”
After retirement Rust plans on taking a break from the action.
“I think I’m going to take a year and not commit to anything formal, so do some things around the house, do some traveling, do some things with friends.”
But Rust doesn’t think he will end his career just yet. Already an avid traveller, he dwells on the possibility of working for Delta Air Lines so that he can fly for free.
“Maybe some tutoring, or teaching at a private school, or pursuing a job with Delta to some capacity would be ideal, but traveling is somewhere on the list I think.”
Even with plans for a potential new gig and travel all over the world, Rust doesn’t plan on moving anytime soon, but he says anything could be possible, “hey, life’s short and I’ll go see what happens.”