After attending Shepherd University for a year, Jeremy Hartman ’99 realized it wasn’t the college for him, so he began looking at colleges that were close by and found Shenandoah. “I was playing basketball and reached out to then coach Dave Dutton and expressed interest,” said Hartman. “Once I met Coach Dutton, I decided to transfer into SU and continue playing basketball.” Hartman was also intrigued by the kinesiology and physical therapy programs. After talking with the instructor in the kinesiology program, he knew Shenandoah was the right place for him.
“Despite its small size, SU formed the foundation of my adult life,” said Hartman. “So many memories and friendships were formed at SU, simply due to the size of campus. I also grew to have a greater appreciation for the arts by attending SU. The conservatory programs are outstanding and attending the performances broadened my horizons to a bigger world and cultures out there.”
Some of Hartman’s fondest memories are playing basketball and making the weekend road trips with his teammates, as well as his work study job with the campus mailroom. His job allowed him to interact with students, along with faculty and staff from different departments he would normally never see.
Hartman is a health and physical education teacher at Wilson Memorial High School in Fishersville, Virginia. He is also head coach of the boys’ varsity basketball team at the high school. Before his current position, Hartman was an assistant principal for several years.
The most rewarding part of his career is the relationships he develops with his students as their coach and teacher. He enjoys helping his students reach their educational goals and seeing them succeed in being the first person in their families to attend college.
Hartman’s education at Shenandoah gave him the ability to feel comfortable providing the scientific portion of health and physical education in front of a classroom or gymnasium full of students. “My instructors were invaluable resources in teaching me how to conduct a lesson and relate to students and provide information in a way that each student could understand and process the material,” said Hartman.
Hartman’s advice to students is: “Continue to learn and grow each day, each year. Be a lifelong learner. Also, have fun doing what you’re doing. My dad always told me it’s not really a job if you have fun and can get up every morning loving what you’re doing. I took that to heart and I would advise students to do the same. If you don’t love it then you’ll never fulfill your passion and purpose.”