Following 14-year football and P.E. teacher Tim Lugo’s departure to Mountain View high school in early January, retired police officer Colin Stewart temporarily replaced Lugo for a few weeks as the Intermediate P.E. teacher instructing second-year P.E. students. Afterwards, Anatomy and Physiology teacher Kristofer Orre stepped in to fill the position for the rest of the year.

Besides teaching, Orre has also been the strength and conditioning coach training school sports teams for the past four years. His extensive experience and enjoyment of coaching were his primary motivations for taking the job. 

In taking the PE teaching role, Orre has stepped away from his job as Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA). In this position, he acted as an instructional coach to teachers at both Saratoga and Los Gatos and was praised for his ability to help teachers with all of the technology they had to learn when school went online in March of 2020.

Orre has also coached CrossFit (a fitness program that utilizes high-intensity functional training) for many years, and incorporates CrossFit exercises such as thrusters and box jumps into his P.E. students’ workouts. 

“I found CrossFit about 12 years ago, and it sounds kind of cliché, but it really did change my life,” Orre said. “CrossFit was a huge catalyst in building my self confidence, and I want my students to experience that in terms of fitness.”

Orre’s goal for his students is to increase their athleticism while maintaining correct form. He encourages students to use lighter weights to practice exercises before scaling them up to match their ability, while ensuring the class is still challenging for students.

Additionally, as the Anatomy and Physiology teacher, Orre understands a lot of the biomechanics and movement patterns related to specific exercises and how this affects proper form and safety. This is especially relevant to Orre’s class because some of his students are not familiar with lifting weights. Many students who enroll in Intermediate P.E. are not athletes or very interested in fitness.

“I hope my students grow in all areas as much as possible and walk away from the course feeling like they can exercise on their own, move safely and walk into a gym and be able to apply some of the principles they’ve learned in this class,” Orre said.

To motivate his students, Orre challenges them to prove to themselves that they are capable of improving. For example, if he sees that a weight is too easy for a student, he will encourage them to increase it. 

“Improvement begets more improvement, right? When you experience that moment of lifting more weight than you lifted before, it adds confidence,” Orre said.

Currently, the permanent position of Intermediate P.E. teacher is not yet decided; the administration is still figuring out who is teaching what for next school year, but Orre is hoping to continue in the role.

“I really hope to be teaching [Intermediate P.E.] next year,” Orre said. “I get to apply my skills as a teacher to help people improve their fitness and get healthier — it’s really rewarding.”