Forever Rockwood: Feb. 20, 2025

"Forever Rockwood" is a series in which the Rockwood School District features alumni from Eureka, Lafayette, Marquette and Rockwood Summit high schools who make a lasting impact on their communities.

Read some of their stories below. If you have a "Forever Rockwood" candidate in mind, please send information about them to commdept@rsdmo.org.

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Chris Freund (Eureka Class of 1992), Rockwood Director of Facilities Services

Chris Freund, Rockwood's director of facilities services, is retiring at the end of this school year, after working for the district for more than 30 years.

Freund, who attended Geggie Elementary and Eureka Junior High before graduating from Eureka, first started working for Rockwood in a temporary role painting classrooms in the summer of 1991. He took his first full-time position in Rockwood as a landscape technician in 1995 and worked his way into becoming director of facilities in 2013.

"I never left Rockwood,” Freund said in a Eureka Leader story. “I would have never dreamed that 30 years later I would be retiring from here, let alone as the director of facilities, but that’s how things worked out. I still have moments when I’m driving down the road, and I’m asking myself, ‘Am I doing the right thing, and who am I going to be without Rockwood?’ You wake up every day for 30 years, and this is what you know, but I am excited for whatever lies ahead.” 

Read the entire Eureka Leader story about Freund at this link.

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Anna Gray (Eureka Class of 2002), social studies teacher, Marquette High

During her career as an educator, Anna Gray has tried to pass on to her students the positive virtues her teachers imparted to her during her time as a Rockwood student, at Geggie, LaSalle Springs Middle and Eureka High.

"My Rockwood education prepared me to take on academic challenges in college, communicate effectively when needed, show empathy for others and to trust my own abilities when faced with adversity," Gray said. "My Rockwood teachers encouraged me to be curious and independent which led to my love of lifelong learning."

As a Eureka student, Gray's most impactful memories center on her time as editor-in-chief of the Bugle newspaper.

"That was incredible," she said. "I learned so much responsibility from that role, as I was leading others and practically running a business at age 16."

Gray served as a student teacher and long-term substitute at Lafayette High before returning to teach at Eureka for eight years. This is her sixth year at Marquette.

At Eureka, she especially enjoyed the full-circle moment of becoming colleagues with some of the amazing educators she learned from, such as Jim Schulz, Bryan Clar and Ellen Garner.

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Rob Jacoby (Marquette Class of 2001), special education teacher, SSD Department Chair, Marquette

Rob Jacoby learned to value education at a young age: his mother, father and grandparents were all educators.

By the time he walked the halls at Marquette as a student, his mother, father and grandfather were all teaching there.

"I received a great education in Rockwood, which set me up for success later in life," he said. "My time at Marquette prepared me for college, and I felt that in many ways, college was easier than my time at Marquette. Looking back, I was lucky to be able to attend a school surrounded by the people that cared most about me."

Jacoby was a K-12 Rockwood student, attending Ellisville and Ridge Meadows elementary schools and Selvidge Middle before going to Marquette. He played baseball for the Mustangs and cultivated a close group of friends.

Now, he teaches and coaches boys and girls junior varsity tennis at the same place his family members taught.

"I knew I wanted to continue and have a career in education like my family," he said. "It was strange coming back and teaching with my father for his last couple of years and co-teaching with teachers I had in class. It's hard to believe, but I have spent over half my life in this building; but I wouldn't have it any other way."