Science teacher Jacob Buxton has been teaching here longer than “Keeping Up With The Kardashians” has been airing – over 17 years.

Like all legends, his time here must come to an end. Let’s look at the beginning.

Buxton went to Cornell University on a pre-veterinary track but decided to major in biology. He began teaching middle school in the early 2000s in his home state of North Carolina. After a few years, he switched to high school because he “wanted to focus more on higher level content, specifically higher level biology content, so I came to Wootton for that and it’s been the perfect place to do that,” Buxton said.

In 2006, he began teaching Honors Physics to AP Biology here and has become the sponsor of numerous groups including cross country, marine biology club, Bracelets for Breast Cancer club and Future Doctors of America. “I didn’t expect to be at this job for this long but I love Wootton, which is why I was here this long. What I’ll miss about high school is that I really have fun engaging and talking, joking and having conversations with you guys [students]. You can do that as a middle school teacher but not in the same way. But I plan to teach 10 more years before I retire and I’m just looking for a new challenge,” Buxton said.

Compared to other high school kids across the country, kids here are “especially mature and have a decent perspective of the world, have a good sense of humor and fun to talk to so I will miss that most,” Buxton said.

Students share similar sentiments, “I will be sad and I’ll miss him a lot but I hope he comes back to visit,” sophomore Jasmine Geeng said.

Buxton has developed a strong connection with his classes, particularly his advisory class. Advisory student and sophomore Thaline Fisher said, “I think it’s sad because you get closer with them because you think they’re always going to be there, for all four years. It’s kind of scary not knowing who’s going to replace them instead.”

Sophomore Elizabeth Gao said, “I’m very upset that he will be leaving next year. I can’t imagine what the next few years will be like without having him as our homeroom teacher. I will miss all the fun fishing stories he has for us and just having a one-on-one random conversation with him as he made advisory so fun and unforgettable. He’s the most easy-to-talk-to teacher and I genuinely can’t think of the next two years without him.”