By Tom Nader

Publisher and Editor

The “Coaches in the Classroom” feature is a weekly series that spotlights and celebrates coaches throughout Portage County, who spend their days in the classrooms and hallways leading today’s student-athletes to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Today’s spotlight is on third-year Windham High School boys basketball coach Cody Apthorpe, who is in his 11th year teaching and currently is a 5th and 6th grade math teacher at Windham.

• School District: Windham.
• How many years have you been a teacher?: 11 years total (4 at Windham and 7 at Rootstown).
• Classes taught?: 5th and 6th grade Math.
• What made you want to become an educator?: My family and close mentors have always valued or been in the education and school setting. I remember my dad talking about how he would have enjoyed teaching, and my mom has worked in the school system for most of my life throughout my childhood.
• What is your favorite part of your job?: I thoroughly enjoy working with the youth and don’t take for granted how important it is to try to consistently be a positive example. Throughout my career, I’ve been surrounded by great administrators, as well as my colleagues, which makes coming to school that much more enjoyable.
• What have you learned about being an educator that you didn’t know before you started?: In college, so much of the focus is on teaching strategies, philosophy, content and now, being in my 11th year, building positive and respectful rapport in the classroom supersedes the “X’s and O’s” of teaching.
• Which teachers influenced you to go into education?: I’m in a very unique position currently, working alongside many of the teachers I had growing up in Windham. That being said, ALL of my teachers have made an impact in their own way.
• How do you apply some of your coaching to your classroom?: I think my personality leans to being more serious and intense on the outside, which is my way of setting the tone for having high expectations. As with players, trying to get students to work and perform at their highest ability takes constant encouragement, redirection and accountability checks.
• How do you apply some of your classroom to your coaching?: Teaching naturally requires patience. That is probably the largest carryover to coaching.
• Funniest thing that has happened to you in your classroom?: Although not just on one occasion, when someone in the class has an accidental passing of gas — that always makes for a funny moment.
• Mentors in your building who have helped you along the way?: As I mentioned, most of the staff in my building were once my teacher themselves. It’s been a great experience to have them both in that role and now as a mentor in my career.