Celebrated English teacher Kurt Kroesche set down roots in Los Gatos in 2003, when he arrived in town for a job interview at Los Gatos High School.
Kroesche, who grew up in the Pasadena suburb of Santa Marino, never looked back: He lives in town and raised two daughters here, both of whom are LGHS grads.
“The thing I particularly love about the high school is it allows you to be part of something that’s bigger than yourself,” Kroesche said. “It provides so many spaces and places for so many of us to belong. That’s why (physics teacher) Rachel Peters and I started the swim team 19 years ago — we wanted to create a place where kids could belong.”
Kroesche was a champion swimmer at Stanford: The 1989 Stanford grad is an All-American backstroker and a two-time NCAA team champion.
“I love swimming in the ocean and being outdoors in the wilderness,” he said.
Kroesche, who has also received the LGHS “Educator of the Year” award multiple times, said he’s especially proud of the combined philosophy and ethics class that’s popular with seniors.
“We talk about how to lead a good life and what it means to lead a good life,” he said. “I think people are looking for some kind of meaning or purpose, and hopefully the class gets the students thinking about that. I’ve always found LGHS students to be insightful and curious.”
Kroesche’s talents go well beyond the classroom.
For example, he’s a singer in the high school’s Teacher Band that performs at the annual “Fractured Follies” variety show.
The show celebrates the end of the school year with comedy, skits, and singing and dancing.
“It started out in 2000 as a fundraiser for cancer research,” Kroesche said.
“We only had four or five teachers participating that first year, but today approximately half the staff participates. The kids really respond to the teachers having a good time.”
The criteria to be named Grand Marshal for the Los Gatos Children’s Christmas/Holidays Parade specifies that individuals must have made significant contributions to the town’s youth.
Clearly, Kroesche has that in spades: He’s an innovative leader who views his extra-curricular activities as an “extension of the classroom” and whose heart was captured by the town that he says is a “real community.”
