By Addison Montoya
There is one Gator behind the scenes that seems to be involved with everything. Christopher Long is the 2023-2024 Teacher of the Year. He has worked at Captain Shreve for ten years. He is the co-sponsor of National Honor Society, head coach of tennis, football assistant, teaches Journalism I and Credit Recovery, the sponsor and advisor of the media teams and edits the Captain Shreve websites.
Long always dreamed of becoming a teacher and is fulfilling that goal now.
“I can’t imagine doing anything else, it’s what I’ve wanted to do since I was five years old,” said Long.
He has a secondary education degree and history degree from Drury University in Springfield, Missouri. Long started teaching middle school in Missouri, then came to Shreveport and taught in the alternative school programs for 9 years. He then went to BTW and taught 7th grade for two years. He then got the chance to come to Shreve.
“I was excited to get the opportunity at Shreve, I was teaching middle school history at the time, and Mrs. Eakin called and said they had a position here,” said Long.
He has always wanted to work in the school environment because of such good experiences in his past workings.
“It’s always been what I’ve done. And I think it would be weird having a business job,” Long said. “I like being around students and this environment is all I’ve ever known.”
Long has been attached to school his whole life, and he loves how Shreve has impacted him. “I love the faculty, and I love the way we coordinate and work together to solve problems to find the best for solutions for students,” Long stated.
Long is happy with the high school environment and what the atmosphere is about.
Long is also married to Mrs. Long, a Captain Shreve librarian, and together they help the teachers and students with technology problems around campus. Both of the Longs’ are very successful and well known at The Swamp because of how efficient and helpful they can be.
“It comes down to being involved in a lot of things. I spend a lot of time doing things for Shreve, even on my personal time. At the beginning of the year we were up here getting technology put back into place, spending some really lat nights. But it needed to be done so everything was ready for the first day of school,” Long said.
Mr. Long and Mrs. Long plan to be here at Shreve and retire together when they are eligible and ready.
When asked what legacy he would like to leave at Captain Shreve, Long replied, “a legacy of getting things done at a high level… I just hope people appreciate that I wanted anything I was involved with to be top quality and done to the very best of my abilities. It’s what I expect of others and I try to give that effort as well.”