On October 14, the Tyrone Area School Board appointed eighth grade American History teacher Mr. Lucas Rhoades as the new Dean of Students for the Tyrone Area Middle School to replace Mrs. Leslie Ieraci Estep, who recently became Tyrone’s Director of Curriculum.
As Tyrone’s new Middle School Dean, Mr. Rhoades distinguishes himself as a man of discipline, discovery, duty, and dignity.
In the 1990s, while an athlete in football, basketball, and baseball at Tyrone High, Mr. Rhoades learned the meaning of discipline. As a Social Studies Education major at nearby Juniata College in Huntingdon, Mr. Rhoades intensified his discipline when he played and lettered in varsity baseball all four years at college.
Tyrone Athletic Director Thomas Coleman recalled the days when Mr. Rhoades learned discipline when he said, “Oh, Mr. Rhoades did a spectacular job of carrying equipment and pinch running as part of the varsity baseball team, when he was only in ninth grade.”
During his days as a student at dear old Tyrone High, Mr. Rhoades also learned the meaning of the term “discovery.” Under the watchful guidance of his ancient history teacher Mr. George Wilbur and his civics teacher Mr. William Abbott, Dean Rhoades discovered that he enjoyed history and decided to try and bring history to life for a new generation of students when he began to teach eighth grade American History at Tyrone Middle School in 2001.
In the seven years that he taught American History, Mr. Rhoades discovered that he greatly admired John Adams and Thomas Paine, both of whom played prominent roles in the American Revolution.
Now that he has become Dean of Middle School Students, Mr. Rhoades comes to school with a heightened sense of duty. Quite often as new student dean, Mr. Rhoades has emphasized his enthusiasm for working with all middle school students, instead of just with eighth graders. He also rejoiced that he can work with such a dedicated, experienced, and knowledgeable mentor as Tyrone Middle School Principal Dr. John Vendetti.
Mr. Rhoades tells us that each day as Dean proves extremely hectic and brings him unforeseen challenges.
Yet Mr. Rhoades is not a stranger to challenge, and that probably explains why he tries to live his life with dignity.
Probably not too many Tyrone students realize that when he was a sixth grader at Tyrone’s Adams School, Mr. Rhoades lost his father to cancer. From that early age, Dean Rhoades had to develop the dignity to cope with his grief by remaining active and by participating in sports. Probably his tragic family experience as a sixth grader explains why, as Student Council Advisor, Mr. Rhoades wants to help Derrick Reese and his family when they struggle to cope with Derrick’s battle against cancer.
Over three hundred years ago in 1720, British poet Alexander Pope gave this advice, “Act well your part, do your duty with dignity, there all the honor lies.” As his new career as Middle School Dean unfolds, it appears that Mr. Rhoades is heeding the poet’s advice.
