Central High School math teacher Dana West's approach to life, and to teaching, is simple: "Things have a way of working out."

Fully intending to go to law school when he was making career decisions several decades ago, a professor at Huron College steered West into the teaching profession instead.

"I decided to try it for a year, and if I wasn't having any fun, I'd go to law school. That was 34 years ago, and I haven't regretted going to work once. Teaching isn't a job to me, it's having fun and getting paid for it," he said. "I've never worked just for the paycheck."

This zest for life, and the teaching profession, no doubt prompted Central High School senior Caitlin Hafner to choose West as the teacher she wanted to honor at the Evening of Excellence Academic Banquet on Tuesday, April 22.

"As is the case with so many things, what you put into it has a whole lot to do with what you get out of it," said West, who has taught math at Central for 25 years. "Working with students like Caitlin Hafner, that's a delight. I believe in doing the best job you can, and good things will happen."

West said Central has been a good fit for him.

"I like the diversity, the whole gamut," he said.

He approaches teaching like a puzzle.

"Every class is different, every year is different. My goal is how to best explain math so that students can understand it. I teach the same class (pre-calculus) back to back on red days, and yet I present the material in totally different ways, based upon the personalities of each class," he said.

Connecting with as many students as possible is also a goal for West.

"I attend as many extracurricular activities as I can," he said. "I can't remember the last time I missed a play. I go to orchestra and band concerts, and I'm a huge sports nut. If students have an inkling that you're interested in them as a person, not just as a math student, that's a huge advantage."

West comes from a long line of math scholars, with four uncles and his father graduating from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, but he realizes that math is not everyone's cup of tea.

"I'm not naïve enough to believe that math is going to be exciting to all that many people," he said. "But every now and then, you see a student who doesn't even realize that they're having fun doing math, and I say, 'That's cool!'"

One of the secrets to West's longevity as a teacher might be that he never takes the job home. "I come in early, stay late, but I don't take anything home," he said.

West chooses not to let challenges, such as the debate on teacher salaries in South Dakota and the recent budget issues in the Rapid City school district, affect his attitude.

"I'll do everything I can not to bring students down," he said.

West plans to retire at the end of this school year, and admitted the decision wasn't an easy one. "I want to go out at the top of my game, when I still have the fire in my heart," he said. "I don't want people to say, 'Remember when Mr. West was still good?' I want them to say, 'Gee, I wish Mr. West was still around.'"