After 20 years of being in the oil and gas industry, John Tellers returns to the classroom to teach physical science. This will be Tellers’ first year teaching in Oklahoma and at Santa Fe. 

“Santa Fe has given me the chance to try teaching as an alternate profession and I am thankful for it,” Tellers said. 

Prior to becoming a high school teacher, Tellers was a college student professor at University High School in Morgantown. Apart from University, this is his first time teaching his own class. 

“I enjoyed it when I was in college,” Tellers said. “I was a student teacher, and then I did a lot of volunteer work with scouts.”

Before coming to Santa Fe, Tellers was a geologist and an oil rigger. He started his career in West Virginia then moved to Oklahoma 13 years ago to work for Devon Energy. He worked at Devon for seven years, before later returning to teaching. 

“I did it for 20 years and it was kinda the same thing over and over again, [I wanted to] try something new,” Tellers said. 

Tellers describes himself as an outdoors person, as he enjoys hiking on his days off. He is a range safety instructor, lifeguard and helps scouts outside of school. 

Tellers has a community of people supporting him and the things he does in his everyday life, such as helping others and the environment.

“[I am a] big society person, probably the millennial in me, I’m a believer that we as a group are gonna do better than individually alone,” Tellers said. “I get a lot of joy by seeing other people succeed also.”

Even after a 20 year teaching gap, Tellers is still making a difference in his community, which now includes Santa Fe.