NEWS

Former Pittsford teacher's impact is recognized

Ernst Lamothe Jr.

Much of what Gill Petri has gotten into during his life has not been by design.

After college, he was considering the medical field. He figured he wanted to help out others — and what better way than being a doctor?

With the urging of his wife, though, he decided to enroll in the College of Environmental Science and Forestry at Syracuse University. He had always loved the outdoors and fishing and figured he might as well have a career in something he loved.

After graduation, he needed a job because the couple were expecting their first child. He applied to Greece and Pittsford central school districts. When the latter selected him, he figured it would be a stopover. He got accepted to Penn State University for a doctoral program soon after, but he turned it down because of his teaching job.

"You can never tell what is going to happen with life. I never imagined I would be teaching, let alone fall in love with it," said Petri, 72, who retired from the Pittsford school district in 2001. "And you never know what kind of impact you are going to have on your students until later."

That impact clearly has been significant. This year, one of the students he taught more than a decade ago at Pittsford Sutherland High School got together with his friends and built an observation deck off Clover Street in his honor.

And everything started with the happy accident of deciding not to go to medical school.

As a young man, Petri grew up near the Brighton and Penfield border, spending much of his youth fishing in Allen's Creek, going to Corbett's Glen and other upstate New York nature areas. He saw the beautiful trout-filled streams and felt an immediate connection to nature.

When he decided to teach, he focused much of his energy on science. But soon he started two electives; an environmental program class in 1972 and a horticulture class two years later.

"At that time, Pittsford was very much into electives and giving kids as many choices as possible," said Petri. "We had a greenhouse and planted vegetable gardens right on campus. Caring about the environment was beginning to come into the forefront, so students took to the classes."

Jeff Skuse didn't come into Petri's classroom until decades later, but it's obvious that the lessons he learned there stayed with him.

Last year, Skuse donated lumber to the town of Pittsford to build a new observation deck at Isaac Gordon Nature Center, a small nature park off Clover Street.

Skuse, a 2001 Pittsford Sutherland graduate, said the old deck had withered away over the years and the town chose not to replace it.

"The old deck had sentimental value to me, as I sat on it during family walks since I was very young," Skuse said.

And since his former environmental science teacher had such a significant effect on his life and his appreciation for science and nature, Skuse wanted to recognize him.

"I chose to honor him by dedicating the deck to him," said Skuse. "Gill was an outstanding teacher, mentor and friend to thousands of students. These students have then gone on to be teachers and mentors. His impact on our community and its students has been profound."

Along with the wood for the deck, Skuse purchased a plaque that reads: "This observation deck is dedicated to M. Gill Petri for advancing an appreciation of our natural world and enriching the lives of his students at Pittsford Sutherland H.S. and our community."

Petri said he is honored by the deck, and more importantly, doing his part to help students enjoy nature.

"It's a wonderful feeling to have so many of my students eventually go into environmental fields. And even the ones that didn't go still really care about the environment, and it is nice to hear that they got that from me," he added. "It is a shocker to me that my former student dedicated a deck to me."

But he also chuckles about how both he and his first students are senior citizens.

"When I started back in 1965, I was a 24-year-old teacher and my students were 16. Now those same students are turning 65-years-old themselves," said Petri.

Lamothe is a freelance writer from Rochester.