Terry Kauffman: Ceramics teacher, friend, Blackhawk Legend
“It’s a nice accomplishment looking back and knowing that it’s a career I’ve enjoyed, and the majority of it has been spent at La Quinta High School as a Blackhawk.”
In room 710, unfinished clay projects line the counters.
Terry Kauffman, clad in his mask and plaid blue button-up shirt, looks back at the quote written on a yellow poster atop his back wall, before panning around the room he’s taught in for the last 26 years.
“You use a glass mirror to see your face, you use works of art to see your soul.”
Kauffman has been at La Quinta High School since 1995 and is now considered a Blackhawk Legend. Staff members are recognized as Blackhawk Legends once they reach 20 years at the high school.
Throughout his time at the high school, he has seen the school and the world around it undergo many changes, but has continued to teach ceramics through it all.
Perhaps one of the biggest changes Kauffman has witnessed is the prolonged aging of the high school itself. Kauffman transferred to La Quinta High from Indio High when it was still a brand new school.
“I saw this school go from being the newest school in the district to now [one of] the oldest high school[s]. Since they opened this school, they’ve rebuilt Palm Desert, rebuilt Amistad, rebuilt Indio, and built Shadow Hills,” Kauffman said.
Another huge shift that Kauffman (and all other Blackhawk students and staff) had to learn to adapt to was distance learning. The hardest part of distance learning for Kauffman was “not knowing [his] students; just seeing them as black squares.”
For a teacher who likes to form connections with his students, teaching a Zoom class full of little black squares was hard, but Kauffman was able to experiment with new methods and areas of teaching.
Even now, Kauffman feels he’s not getting the full opportunity to be able to get to know students because of restrictions, such as face masks, but he’s happy to be back.
Kauffman is described by his peers as outwardly reserved, but a person who you can always count on for a laugh or a good piece of advice.
Stacey Campbell, who teaches art and yearbook at the high school, has known Kauffman for seven years and describes her relationship with him as easygoing. “We joke a lot. He’s got great answers to things. If I ever have issues, I can go to him since he’s the department head and he’s been here for a very long time. He knows the ins and outs of the things that go on here,” Campbell said.
One of the things Campbell admires most about Michigan-raised Kauffman is his “midwest work ethic.”
“He’s dedicated to what he does, he shows up on time, he follows through on things, and he has good ethics in terms of doing what’s right for students and the school,” Campbell said.
Photography teacher Erica Rosser describes Kauffman as a “good professional friend.” She and Kauffman have known each other for about eight years, and Kauffman was one of the very first people she met when she started working at the high school.
“He’s very passionate about what he does and he’s very caring and passionate towards students,” Rosser said. “He’s been teaching for many, many years, so he’s a very wise teacher…he’s my go-to person if I need help with anything in my classroom.”
Kauffman invites colleagues over for Christmas dinner every year.
“We go over to his house for Christmas dinner, kind of like a celebration. [I’ve gone] for the past five years, but I know he’s been doing it with other teachers in our department for longer,” Rosser said. (Unfortunately, this year’s Christmas dinner is canceled due to COVID-19.)
It is no surprise that Kauffman became an art teacher. Growing up, his grandmother and aunt were both art teachers, and in his junior year of high school, Kauffman decided he wanted to follow in their footsteps. Now, Kauffman has been teaching art for 36 years, 26 of them at La Quinta High School.
When you’ve been teaching for as long as Kauffman, it is inevitable that you find inspiration for lessons in places outside of school, but Kauffman is the type of teacher who purposely looks for new ideas within his own hobbies. An avid museum-goer, Kauffman often takes inspiration from art pieces he sees and applies them to his own instructions.
“I look at [the art] and see if the idea behind it is something I can apply to assignments that the students can do and understand,” Kauffman said.
In fact, this is one of the best parts about being an art teacher for him.
Kauffman’s favorite things about teaching art are “going to museums and looking for new ideas for assignments for [his] students, and knowing that they’re going to make something that they’ll keep forever.”
For Kauffman, being a Blackhawk Legend is an achievement.
“It’s a nice accomplishment looking back and knowing that it’s a career I’ve enjoyed, and the majority of it has been spent at La Quinta High School as a Blackhawk,” Kauffman said.
The Hawkview will continue to feature the Blackhawk Legends throughout the school year.
Layla Freiberg was a fourth-year Hawkview reporter, matcha lover, and Daniel Leon's worst nightmare. She graduated in 2022.