Comp retires after 17 years at Havre High

Industrial Arts Teacher Chris Comp is retiring after more than 20 years of teaching, with the last 17 years at Havre High School.

"I became a teacher because I wanted to get something back that I never got as a student and younger, and that was a smile and a pat on the back," he said. "I like seeing kids smile - getting them to smile."

He said Havre has a lot of opportunities for students such as exposing them to different things like automotive, woods, chemistry, English, welding and so on.

His favorite memory teaching at Havre High was two years ago when one of his students, Gabe Evans, got a robot to work autonomously.

"It was really cool," Comp said.

Before teaching at Havre High, he said, he taught in Whitefish for four years. 

Over the years of teaching, he said, his students taught him patience, how to breathe, how to relax, enjoy and to listen. 

"It was fun," he added.

Due to COVID-19, schools had to transfer to distance remote learning.

 He was not a fan of distanced learning, he said.

"I'm a hands-on type of teacher," Comp said. "... I didn't think too much about distance learning, I never have. For students, you miss that emotional connection they are now so busy with their cellphones."

He said he grew up in White Sulphur Springs, where he attended White Sulphur Springs High School, adding that he also played football as a defensive end.

After high school, he joined the U.S. Army for 10 years, 11 months and 21 days, he said, laughing.

He left the service for a bit but went back in.

"I started out as a private and I worked on Cobras, missile systems and Apaches," he said. "And then I got out for a little bit, and it was the time of the Cold War. I became a cook and I worked my way up through the military to E7 and got out in 1991. I was a food service staff sergeant.

When he got out of the Army, he said, he and his daughter, Shirley, moved to Havre.

His mother and father lived in Big Sandy, he added.

He said he worked at Montana State University-Northern as the head cook and baker from 1991 to 1993.

He graduated from Northern in 1999 with a teaching degree, he said.

In 2005, he said, he was Montana Technology Teacher of the year.

He said his retirement plans include sitting in his backyard, building airplanes, relaxing, going fishing, playing with his puppy, Pebbles and going hunting.

"I just would like to thank the Havre Public Schools District for keeping me here and letting me work this hard, and have fun," Comp said. "It was fun - a lot of neat things, a lot of neat people, a lot of neat memories, relationships, friendships that I've gotten. It was a great job, a really great job. I'm going to miss it."