Meet the Teacher: Jeff Snyder

Jeff Snyder is the math and technology gifted teacher at He recently sat down with us to discuss his job and how he got an the education career path.

Snyder has been teaching at the high school for 13 years, while this is his 19th year working in the district.

Why did you get into teaching?

I was in the Air Force for eight years and was an electronics tech working on my electronical engineering degree and the University of Pittsburgh wouldn’t take my transfer credits from Virginia. I didn’t want to start all over again and with my engineering background, most of my mathematics classes were taken care of. While I was in the Air Force, I was the training coordinator for my unit and one of my troops said just before I got out, “You should get into teaching—you do this well.” It always stuck with me in the back of my head so when things weren’t working out with engineering, I thought, “What about teaching?”

What do you enjoy most about your job?

Everyone tells you the kids, but it is the kids. When they surprise you—and I get an opportunity to work with the high level academic students—they constantly bring something to my attention that I had not been aware of before and just a different look at something.

What are you doing right now in your electronics and math classes?

We are prepping for our equations tournaments on Feb. 2 and 3. We belong to the East Suburban Special Programs Associations and that’s a group of 13 schools. Our gifted students compete against each other.

This our 29th year and Woodland Hills has 20 of the 29 first place trophies for the equations tournament. What we do in the gifted program is we expand on what they are given in the regular classrooms and there is no way I would be successful in the gifted program if I didn’t rely and stand on the shoulders of my peers and colleagues. They do the grunt work and I get the glory. They are prepping the students—we just happen to be able to put them in a place for recognition. We wouldn’t be successful without the support of the staff.

How is your work rewarding for you personally?

It’s keeping me young. I am one of the old men in the building and it’s keeping me young.