ANAHEIM : Loara High’s ‘Mr. E’ Wins Top Honor

Alden Esping says being Loara High School’s activities director gives him a chance to make student lives a little more complete.

“The students who are going to succeed in the world are those who know that high test scores are great, that grades are important but that those who make it are those who also take an interest in music, art, athletics and other activities,” Esping said.

This month, Esping--”Mr. E” to his students--was named the state’s student activities director of the year, receiving the “Jack Moore Award” from the California Assn. of Student Activities Directors.

Esping, 55, works with the music and athletic departments and oversees the school’s student government and about 20 clubs. Officials estimate that about 70% of the schools 1,800 students participate in at least one extracurricular activity.

“He is the best in the business. He is known for his leadership conferences and making leaders out of his students,” Loara Principal Barry Escoe said. “He is basically the mentor teacher for all of the activities directors in the state. . . . And the students know that if they have a problem, they can go to him and he’ll work it out.”

Esping is completing his 29th year of teaching in the Anaheim Union High School District. For 27 years, he was at Ball Junior High School, including 16 years as activities director.

He came to Loara in September, 1990, to chair its health education department. As the school year began, the school’s activities director took a position at another school and Escoe asked Esping if he would take that job. He said that his wife, Linda, the head of the school’s English department, was present.

“I looked at her and I thought she would faint, but it has been a great decision, a truly great decision,” Esping said. “I am getting to work with many of the students that I had at Ball. And eight members of the faculty were students of mine years ago at Ball and now they are my colleagues. That’s something I’m proud of.”

Esping said that when he took the job at Loara, he was told that many high school students were too jaded for his rah-rah, cheerleading style. “But that’s not true; the students have been 100% responsive,” Esping said.

He said he has no intention of retiring any time soon.

“I’m still as excited about coming to school as I was when I first started teaching,” he said. “There aren’t a lot of people who get to help as many people in their jobs as I do in mine.”