Casey Gause was 21 when he walked alone through the doors of a little high school set in a rural town just outside the city of Fort Worth. Fresh out of college, he was just starting his first job as an English and psychology teacher.

“I was so so nervous,” Gause said. “I was three years older than some of my students in Psychology. [There was] definitely some imposter syndrome, like, ‘Do I really belong here?’”

Now aged 43, Gause has remained a teacher at Boswell for more than two decades.

“This was a very different place back then,” he said. “It was so essentially rural, and the building was completely segmented. It just felt like a totally different environment than it does today.”

Gause has been at Bos long enough to have seen some familiar faces return as well.

“It is interesting to have so much seniority over so many other people,” he said. “There’s probably seven or eight teachers here that I have taught.”

However, the Gause classroom is not the same classroom it was years ago. According to Gause, he has taught in an ever changing and constantly adaptive environment throughout the years.

“I have to make sure I’m responsive to my students and not just doing what I want to do but doing what they need, which changes over time.” he said. “I have to make sure that even high achieving students have a next level that they can strive toward. Often they’re used to—fairly easily—hitting the ceiling, and I’ve got to raise the ceiling.”

Despite his longevity, Gause said he avoids feeling burnt out due to the fluid nature of his subject areas.

“I’ve been lucky that I get to teach classes that can change, that can evolve,” he said. “[In] English I can teach different works. I can respond to different things that are happening in the world. AP Capstone—I love teaching because the students drive that material. It doesn’t get monotonous because the content never stays the same.”

But Gause said what keeps him most excited throughout the year is the connection he forms with his students.

“I look forward to relationships more than anything,” he said, “talking to students and seeing what’s going on in their lives and seeing growth. Who just got a new job? Who’s going to the playoffs in their sport? What’s going on at home? That stuff is really why you come.”

For students who are nervous or excited by the uncertainty of what’s to come, or essentially in the same position Gause was twenty years ago outside the doors of Boswell, he gave one piece of advice:

“Whatever you do, make sure you’re a little better than you were yesterday.” he said. “I think we get overwhelmed when we look for something that seems unachievable like an end result or something, but as long as progress is consistent, then I think you’ll be satisfied.”

Through repairs and renovations, from handwritten to hand typed essays, Casey Gause has been here for it all.

“It’s consistently rewarding, because I feel challenged,” he said, “and I feel like, hopefully, I’m doing good work here.”