Moeller looks back fondly on time at BCLUW

Call it a midlife crisis, or call it rediscovering a past love. After nearly 20 years spent outside of the educational realm, retiring BCLUW business teacher Jim Moeller decided that it was time to give the profession he went to college for another try. To this day, he hasn’t regretted it.
           
Moeller, who grew up on a farm near Holland where he still lives today and graduated from Grundy Center High School, is a Grundy County boy through and through: save for four years at Ellsworth Community College and UNI and a short teaching stint in State Center, he’s been here all of his life. He credits his business teacher, Rick Briggs, for inspiring him to pursue the field, but the family farm and a job at Phelps Implement in Grundy Center called him back to the area and derailed those plans—temporarily, at least.
           
After eight years at Phelps, Moeller shifted his focus back to farming and won a seat on the Grundy Center Board of Education, a position that reignited his interest in teaching. When an opening presented itself at BCLUW, he made the short drive to Conrad for an interview, and 17 years later—including 15 years as basketball announcer and yearbook adviser—he’s calling it a career.
           
As an instructor, Moeller has sought to emphasize some of the more technical aspects of business along with basic principles: show up to work, be on time, be a good citizen and don’t make excuses. Financial literacy has also become a key tenet of the curriculum, and that includes teaching students that a four-year college degree isn’t always necessary to obtain a high-paying job.
           
“I’ve taught students to step up and serve the community,” he said. 
 
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