One of Englewood’s favorite and long-time subs is trading adventures in the classroom here, to adventures in a classroom halfway around the world. Captain Hensley has spent hours in EHS classrooms over the last four years. Over that time, he has brought his colorful background into classroom lessons. One recent example had Hensley substituting in World History class, where the students were making posters about The Cold War.  It is a subject he knows very well. He believes our relationship with Russia now will impact the younger generations.

Hensley lived through the Cold War, which he says impacted him because he was told to fear the Soviet Union and to hate it and the people. He says his biggest fear was having a nuclear war, and he learned of many people building bomb shelters in their homes.

Hensley says his ties to Eastern Europe are so strong, he decided to move to Ukraine. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast; Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea to the south. He says the key is getting to know people. He heads to Ukraine in mid-May. He will be living in a city called Cherkasy, it’s about 100 miles NE of Kyiv, the capital. He is going there to help teach English. He has been helping people in that area for 11 years. Now his friends there have asked him to come and stay. He jumped on the opportunity.

Last summer, the schools there asked him to teach their 11th form students (like our high school seniors) American History. He is allowed to teach at one of the universities if he does it for free. He will be tutoring students. He has a Ph.D. and is excited to learn while he teaches.