Gallery • 4 Photos

Margaret Edmonson

In a surprise sendoff on Dec. 18, assistant principal Dean Hofer walks down the steps while ROTC, cheerleaders and drumline pay tribute.

Assistant principal Dean Hofer officially retired from Smithson Valley High School on Dec. 18. 

Hofer worked in Comal for 16 years. Although he became an assistant principal, he had other plans going into college, though. 

“I was a very bad math student; I was told in high school that I wasn’t smart enough to take Algebra II,” Hofer said. “So, I picked up computer science [and] computer programming. I started my college career doing that. [However], I got to my junior year and decided to flip-flop my major and minor, and [have] math [as my] major. Then I [had] to figure out what I wanted to do with the math. I picked up the education piece of it. So I never intended to be a teacher.”

Hofer wanted to help students because he knew what it felt like to struggle in math, eventually becoming the math department chair. He then became the College and Career Readiness advisor  Following that, he was offered an assistant principal position of Smithson Valley High School. Through it all, other job possibilities for him to leave were brought to the table, but he turned them down.

‘’What kept me [at SV was] the students,” Hofer said. “I know the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the fence, [but] I can trust what we have here in the student body. You guys have lived up [to my expectations] for those 16 years.” 

Based on what he has learned, Hofer gives advice to students wishing to pursue a career in education.

“You’ve got to want to be a teacher to be successful,” Hofer said, “and be careful what you wish for because you might find yourself in a situation that you’re not really happy with.”

Now that he’s retired, Hofer currently plans to embark on another type of journey.

“[I’ll be traveling]  within the United States,” Hofer said. “There’s all kinds of things that I’ve wanted to see in my life that I’ve not had an opportunity to do so.”

Even though he won’t be active in the school anymore, Hofer won’t forget the almost two decade-long experience he had at SV. 

“I’m going to miss walking [in] the hallways,” Hofer said. “But at the same time, everything comes to an end at some point in time.”