This article was a finalist of Lookout’s 2026 Journalism Scholarship challenge, which invited Lane County high school students to profile an unsung hero –– someone positively impacting their community. Learn more and find all of the winners here.

For 35 years, a teacher has made a long lasting impression. He has helped the Pleasant Hill community in many ways, and his care for the community knows no bounds.

TSP provides sports programs — including soccer, volleyball, basketball, baseball and softball — for more than 700 elementary and middle school students in the community. Since 1977, it has helped fill a gap within the Fern Ridge School District, which doesn’t provide school-sponsored sports programs until high school.

In 1960, Timothy Meinzen was born in Kerala, India. His father was a missionary in India. Timothy Meinzen has lived in many US states, including Illinois, Missouri, Utah and then finally Oregon. He has taught at four schools, finally landing at Pleasant Hill, where he has taught for over 35 years.

He spent the majority of his teaching career in Pleasant Hill teaching History and Publications, which includes the Billie Bulletin (Pleasant Hill’s student newspaper) and Yearbook. His time at Pleasant Hill has been spent doing many passion projects.

Meinzen has kept the Billie Bulletin alive and created a display of the school’s history, yearbook, and newspaper in the halls. Over his career he has gotten two awards, the VFW Teacher of the Year and Teacher of the Month.

When asked what some of his favorite passion projects were, he said, “The sign has been the most rewarding. Replacing the sign and upgrading the ground around it has been exciting, fun and surprising.”

However, there were many challenges that came along with the project. “One challenge, after getting the columnar basalt to place around the sign, is that the entire area was a drain field. We had to find maps to find where the pipes were.”

Meinzen also helps maintain all sorts of greenery around the school. He sometimes takes students out and has them help with the gardening.

Another passion project he is proud of is the annual veterans assembly held at Pleasant Hill High School. Every year in November, Timothy organizes the school choir and band and encourages all the students to honor and respect the service of the veterans in our community.

“Getting to invite in veterans and honor them with an assembly, pie, and coffee has been an honor. I have been doing that for 15-16 years.”

Pie and coffee is an old tradition for veterans. After World War Two, all the soldiers who returned from war were given free pie and coffee as a token of appreciation.

Meinzen taught in Africa for the Peace Corps. “I think my favorite memory was writing on the board and all the kids all moved their desks from one corner and I asked what is going on and one girl said “Foday polluted the air” which led to all of us laughing together.”.
With his years of community work, he has some advice to give someone trying to help. “Find out what the community needs and what would be helpful. Then see if you can get support for it.”

All of Meinzen’s students appreciate his dedication. One of his students, Mark Buchan said, “Mr. Meinzen has been a great teacher to me. His advice has been instrumental in developing my own writing. He also makes his students feel supported and comfortable in a way that I think other teachers should strive to emulate.”

Another one of his students, Zane Koszegi said, “He is a super approachable teacher that made me feel at home. I will forever love his class because of how he approaches teaching.”

Timothy Meinzen is an inspirational person. He has done so much for every student he has ever had. He is the kind of teacher that truly believes in every one of his students. He has delayed his own retirement for at least 3 years (and probably longer), and this year is his last.

As one of his students, I think he deserves special recognition for the things that he has accomplished, and for his devotion to his classroom.

Jaxson Potts is a student at Pleasant Hill High School