MMACHS Favorite Pirate to Set Sail into Retirement

By: Skylar Purkiss

After years of teaching, Mr. Winkelman has decided to retire and embark on a journey of becoming a pirate in Mississippi. Winkelman plans to create a treasure-finding business using his 40-foot sailboat as a pirate ship, and would like to charter families to different islands along the Gulf, leading them through different adventures to discover local treasures throughout the islands.

Mr. Winkelman already has a house in Mississippi, which sits right on a canal in Ocean Springs, and boasts citrus trees in the backyard and a porch overlooking the canal. Sitting on the porch with his wife last summer while admiring the view, he decided to retire five years early and to pursue his dreams with his wife.

Originally, teaching wasn’t Mr. Winkelman’s dream. His pastor encouraged him to pursue a college degree to become a missionary, which is where he fell in love with math. Moving from California to Idaho to attend Northwest Nazarene University (NNU), he pursued a degree in mathematics.

After years of teaching, Winkelman expressed his gratitude for MMACHS because of the students, teachers and administrative staff. While describing his earlier teaching experiences in other buildings, he brought up how some students would go as far as throwing desks at each other, saying that MMACHS students were “a teachers dream.”

For Mr. Winkelman, the best part about teaching is making an impact on the students’ lives.

“If you’re not doing this because you like the students, you’re going to get burnt out,” he said.

Part of Mr. Winkelman's legacy is the catchy song he created based on the quadratic formula. He shared a story about how a former student of his emailed him stating that the student taught her whole college class the quadratic formula song. Mr. Winkleman expressed how “that hit home,” knowing he made an impact on not only that student’s life, but also the students in her math class.

After working at MMACHS for 7 years, Mr. Winkelman explained that working here made him feel like he was doing the right thing again. He described how he is going to miss the students along with the relationships he has created with the teachers when he's retired. There are two teachers who stick out his head the most though.

“I’ve developed a really great friendship with both Mr. Green and Arn Allemand. These two have probably been my closest relationships. I’m going to miss that,” he added.

Mr. Green expressed how much he’s going to miss Mr. Winkelman: “No matter how stressed out I am with school, work and life, I go for a walk with Mr. Winkelman, and I feel relaxed and happy because we are able to joke together.”

Mr. Winkleman has made a significant impact throughout MMACHS whether it was through his quadratic formula song, or his patience in teaching math. His absence will be missed; we are rooting for him as he pursues his dreams of becoming a pirate in Mississippi.