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History Teacher Retires After 7,224 Days On The Job

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- After spending 7,224 days teaching students at John Metcalf Junior High School in Burnsville – that's 42 years – the district's longest-serving teacher is calling it a career.

History teacher Terry Ruhsam started at the school in 1970 and never left the corridor.

"That's been it for forty two years," he said. "Right here, in this little wing."

His longevity has given him the chance to watch generations grow up.

"I had him in my class and now I have his daughters and sons in class," Ruhsam said, whose two parents were educators, too.

But what has stayed the same are the pupils.

"These seats are filled every day with students -- some eager, some not so eager, and that's always been the case," he said.

Ruhsam added that he stresses the importance of knowing current events because, "If you don't understand the mistakes of the past, you're going to keep repeating them."

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