After over two decades in education and a six-year tenure at Communications High School, beloved history teacher Thomas Ross is retiring at the end of the school year.  

Ross began teaching high school in 1999, later becoming one of the original teachers at Biotechnology High School in 2005 when it opened. Despite having taught in the Monmouth County Vocational School district for over 15 years, Ross does not observe much difference from when he first started up to now.

“I don’t notice that there’s been that much of a change. The students are similar, a lot of the teachers are the same ones that I started with. Maybe the courses have gotten more challenging as time goes on,” said Ross.

During Ross’ time at CHS, he has left a strong impact on many students. Sophomore Cayla Carlson of Neptune feels Ross’ retirement will leave a noticeable absence within the school.  

“I feel that Mr. Ross is an icon of CHS and his retirement will be very sad because he will be missed by all the people who had him,” Carlson said. “It’s unfortunate that the incoming freshmen will not get a chance to have him.” 

Senior Ainsley Lang of Shrewsbury still harbors fond memories of taking Mr. Ross’ class in her first year at CHS.

“My favorite thing about Mr. Ross was that I had him last period of freshman year, so I always looked forward to ending my day with Mr. Ross,” said Lang.

These feelings are reciprocated by Ross, who feels that interacting with students has been the highlight of his career.

“The best part of teaching is getting to work with the students. You know, obviously it’s a job, but the real perk of teaching is working with your students,” said Ross. “And when you connect with somebody or you learn something from them; I learn a lot of stuff from my students, as much as I teach.” 

Though he will miss his students, Ross has a lot to look forward to in retirement.

“It’ll be nice getting to reconnect with my wife after so many years where we’ll just spend all our time together and hang out,” said Ross. “And to go play a lot more golf than I’ve been able to play over the last ten years.”