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By Karen Sharpe
William K. Olsen Jr. '86 never intended to become an educator. He thought economics/accounting was a better career path. But, after a year-and-a-half of crunching numbers as an accountant, Olsen decided to give up the boardroom for the classroom.
The choice proved to be the right decision: in fall 2005, Olsen was named "Vermont History Teacher of the Year" by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and Preserve America.
For Olsen, teaching has always been about helping students, pushing them through black and white issues to see the complexities of subjects and the world—teaching them to love to learn, and to love each other.
"We don't exactly live in a culture that promotes these ideas," he said.
Olsen, who worked with his former roommate, Peter K. Hogenkamp, M.D., '86, in an international school in Salzburg, Austria, in the late 1980s, turned to teaching almost by chance. When he returned home from Austria, Olsen began teaching at a private school in Connecticut but, after a few years, missed the mountains of Salzburg. He and his wife, Kathy Monahan '87, also a teacher, moved to Vermont, where he taught United States and European history at Rutland High School until last year. This fall, Olsen took on administrative responsibilities when he became Rutland Middle School assistant principal.
Though he did not major in the subject, Olsen credits his years at Holy Cross with both affirming his love of history and nurturing his desire to teach.
"Reading Dorothy Day and Thomas Merton … left me with the odd idea that I should be doing something to help the world rather than my pockets," Olsen says. "Sounds strange and perhaps full of baloney nowadays in our cynical times, but I really believe that."
Olsen also remembers being inspired by English Professor Edward Callahan, who, he says, could bring out fascinating points by weaving ideas together.
"Ed did this by simply standing in front of the class and engaging us in conversation. He made everyone feel as if he were speaking directly to them."
In conjunction with this honor, Olsen's district received a substantial collection of U.S. history books for its libraries.
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