Troy local to put experience to work as new shop teacher

Jeff Thill, a former welder, mine worker, logger and a current summer contruction worker, will begin teaching shop classes at Troy High School in two weeks.

“I really enjoy teaching kids, so I think this should be a pretty good fit,” Thill said. “I really want to bring a lot of good useful skills that I’ve seen along my work career.”

Thill said that he applied for the shop teacher job at Troy High School last spring after the community encouraged and supported that he fill the open shop-teacher position.

Although Thill said he’s never had any official teaching experience, at each of his former jobs he enjoyed teaching his co-workers about how to run different machines and equipment as well as instructing them on safety.

“I really want to get these kids to where they respect this building and respect the tools.”

Thill said he has big plans for this year, including taking his students on class trips to different industries in the area, in hopes that those trips will generate an interest for those students in a variety of local career opportunities. Thill also said that he would like to have experienced, vocational workers in the area come in and give guest lectures on what it’s like to work in their industries.

Thill’s biggest teaching goal is educating his students on the importance of safety, which he said is imperative to working in vocational industries.

Growing up, Thill said he was influenced by his grandfather Frank Wright, who taught him an array of trades, and imparted onto him the value of teaching others. According to Thill, Wright worked on the Garrison Dam and the Panama Canal before moving to Lincoln County to become the first mechanic hired and the last mechanic laid off during the construction of Libby Dam.

In his last two years of high school, Thill took his favorite class, shop, from Ron Higgins and Don Myers in the same building he will be teaching in. During those same years, he worked in a school-to-work program, in which he would go to school in the mornings and work at C.W. Welding in Libby in the afternoons.

After graduating from high school, Thill continued working at C.W. Welding for the rest of the summer. After working there, he went to work at the Troy Mine until they shut down in 1993. Then, he worked in Metaline Falls, Wash. as an underground mechanic. He then left that position to work in Bonners Ferry, Idaho, as a logger, then leaving that job to work in a gold mine in Nome, Alaska, followed by working in Timberwest Inc. in Moyie Springs, Idaho, repairing equipment. Since 1999, he’s been self employed and has worked on a U.S. Forest Service contract for 15 years doing excavation work and fireline building. He said he left the Forest Service in 2014.

Working with the junior high student is one of the tasks Thill’s most excited about he said, because he will be able work with them throughout their high school career.

Reporter Bethany Rolfson may be reached at 293-4124 or by email at Reporter@TheWesternNews.com.