Mr. Heinrich is a beloved teacher at Brentwood who is retiring after this year. Mr. Heinrich has taught for 32 years, with 22 of them being at Brentwood and 10 years in the Mehlville/Oakville district.
Did you know Mr. Heinrich was initially a math and social studies teacher? After 10 years of teaching math, he said, “I realized I don’t think I can teach math for the next 20-something years.” Instead, he wanted to teach more hands-on projects that involved engineering, so he made the switch to teaching STEM and construction classes, which he continues to teach to this day.
Along with teaching construction classes, Heinrich has been both the robotics coach and helped start Brentwood’s tennis team. He has coached tennis for 12 years and, according to him, he has coached robotics for 11 or 12 years. Over the course of his 32 years teaching and coaching, Mr. Heinrich has enjoyed watching students grow and mature as they go through middle and high school, including when he taught driver’s ed for 15 years.
When asked about the experience of teaching driver’s ed, Heinrich said that the classes were always very full of people who couldn’t be taught by someone else. For him, it was rewarding to be the one teaching these students how to drive.
If you are someone who is taking or has taken one of Mr. Heinrich’s construction classes, you might frequently see Mr. Roux walking around and helping in the class. For Mr. Roux, the best part of working with Heinrich is the problem-solving and the banter they often have.
Sophomore Jack Magee has taken two of Mr. Heinrichs’ classes, and to him, the best part of being in his classes is that “it’s easy, but it’s not too easy.” After this year, he will miss having Heinrich teaching and helping him in his construction tech class.
When asked if he will miss teaching, Heinrich knows that he will in a year or two. He knows he will miss his coworkers and his students. But as for now? “I’m just ready for a new experience in life,” he said.
