Ex-Submariner Surfaces in 8th Grade
A retired Navy commander is beginning a second career teaching eighth-grade science students why things float and why they don’t.
After 30 years in the Navy’s submarine fleet, Capt. Will Fritchman is in a UNLV accelerated training program studying to become a science teacher.
“He’s a natural,” said Susan Tsukamoto, principal at a northwest Las Vegas middle school where Fritchman observed and taught some physical science lessons this fall. He begins student teaching next month.
Fritchman, 52, has an easy time explaining to students the technical scientific concepts that he learned as an instructor, coach and role model in various Navy leadership positions, Tsukamoto said.
Fritchman said that while stationed in Naples, Italy, in February, he saw an advertisement soliciting military retirees to train at UNLV’s Education College and to teach in Clark County schools. The nation’s sixth-largest school district fills more than 1,000 positions a year.
He said four other factors swayed his decision: His parents live in Las Vegas, there’s no state income tax, the cost of living is manageable and UNLV offered all the classes he needed.
Fritchman, retired commander of the subs Pasadena and Alaska, spent 7 1/2 years under four seas during his Navy career.
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