Saying Goodbye- three CHS faculty members will be moving on in the 2025 school year
By: Sunday Schuh Assistant Editor
The atmosphere at Cody High School will be shifting going into the 2025-2026 school year due to some bittersweet turnover. Among the three beloved faculty members who will be leaving CHS after this year are, Dr. Daniel Cossaboon – Park 6’s designated psychologist, along with John Corbin and Karen Wagner from the social studies department. All three teachers will stay in the education realm, pursuing various new opportunities across the state. I sat down with each of them to get some insight into their experiences here in our district and to hear about their future plans moving forward.
Mr. Corbin- Social Studies:
John Corbin has been an immense asset to the social studies department at CHS for the last nine years, “I've taught for 17 years; I started out in the middle school for my first eight years, and then I've been at Cody High School for the last nine teaching social studies,” he commented.
Corbin has taught students at every grade level, offering courses in geography, history, government, and has spear-headed the ‘We The People’ Capstone program for the last six years. “When I came to the high school, they asked me to start teaching government, and I had to figure that out; and a big part of that growth was also developing the AP United States History program,” he added; “figuring out what that looks like and how to serve kids and make sure that they get that really kind of robust collegiate experience has just been a lot of fun,” said Corbin.
Along with the recognition he has received for his outstanding teaching from his students and fellow educators, Corbin was named the Wyoming State Teacher of the Year for the 2023-2024 school year. “When I got the teacher of the year award and everybody was chanting my name, the Superintendent of Public Instruction was like, ‘this was supposed to be a surprise; what is happening right now?’ She was so flabbergasted, but it's about the students,” he added, “Ms. Degenfelder is amazing, but that has very little to do with that story for me; it's all of the kids that you work really hard for,” said Corbin regarding the experience. Corbin was given the opportunity to attend numerous events around the country with other states’ teachers of the year, including a few trips to the White House where he met with the then U.S. president Joe Biden; “I got to go all over and learn all kinds of things from amazing teachers everywhere,” he remarked.
When asked about how he got into the social studies realm in the first place, his answer was less than straightforward – “well, I wanted to be a football coach, that’s what I knew,” he said, “so I asked myself, what’s the profession that coaches get into? Teaching was kind of the obvious answer.” Once he had decided on teaching, Corbin wrestled with various other subjects, considering P.E., biology, and physics before finally settling on history and social studies. While it wasn’t the career path that he had originally envisioned, it has been the hard work and determination that his students show every day that has kept him in love with his work; “it has just been a lot of fun; so engaging, and so thought provoking. The kids are just the best; it's the best profession that I can think of,” said Corbin.
Mr. Corbin will be continuing his education career as the head principal of Meadowlark Elementary School in Buffalo, Wyoming.
Dr. Cossaboon- Psychology:
Dr. Dan Cossaboon, or Dr. Dan as he is most commonly known at CHS, has been the designated student psychologist at Park Six for 13 years now, but the path to becoming a school psychologist in Cody Wyoming wasn’t a direct one, “I came to Cody specifically because there was a job for a neuropsychologist at Yellowstone Behavioral Health, and from there, I went into private practice,” said Cossaboon, “I decided to come into the school system because I had little kids and in the school system you get summers off,” he added. “[Before coming to Cody] I was living in my car as a full time climber, so I was just traveling around the country following the good weather, climbing. So in the winter, we would go down south and then in the summer, we'd go north into the mountains; so that’s what I was doing when I wound up in Salt Lake and then started as a climbing guide and working in the climbing gyms full-time,” said Cossaboon; “I developed climbing programs for kids and adolescents, and I loved it. These kids who are in like rehabs, mental health centers, and inpatient facilities started coming around because rock climbing had a lot to lend towards personal growth,” he added.
It was through these early adolescent rock climbing programs that Cossaboon discovered he had a knack and a passion for helping children with their mental and physical health; “I loved working with them and some of their therapists who had accompanied them to climbing, whether it was outside or at the gym, started saying, ‘Hey, you're really good with the kids, have you ever considered working with them full time?’ I had never even thought about it, but that's what gave me the idea, and I'm like, okay, I'm going to go to school to be a psychologist, and that's what I did.”
What led Cossaboon to Cody specifically was a chance trip to Banff 20 years ago that resulted in his permanent relocation to Wyoming. “We jumped in an RV and went from Salt Lake to Banff, Canada – but we never got past Cody. I'm a big fisherman, so when we got to Cody and [the fishing] was phenomenal, we loved it here,” he said; “so I still haven't ever been to Banff because we never got past Cody, but, you know, I saw an advertisement in the back of a magazine for a psychologist in Cody, Wyoming, and there you go,” he said about the experience.
Cossaboon commented that he will miss Cody High School and what it has to offer – especially the people, “everyone here is top notch; with the teachers, the students, and the work ethic that I've seen, I mean, I'm looking at the graduating senior class, and we’ve got people going all over the world,” he mentioned, “and that's just a testament to our community and the parents and the teachers and especially the students; It's just amazing – so I'm going to miss that,” said Cossaboon, but he also expressed that it was time for a new challenge, “I love my work, but it's just time for a different chapter as well,” he added.
When asked what his favorite memory of his time here at CHS has been, Cossaboon remarked that every May, as the school years draws to a close, is his favorite time; “my favorite thing in general is right now, when I get to see kids who are barely making it or not going to make it as freshmen, walking across the stage as young men and women, stepping into an adult world and being successful – They're totally different people than when they started out as freshmen,” he said, “I just get this really huge sense of pride and being proud of someone; so I'd say this is my favorite time of year because all the work that they put in and watching how it pays off and how successful they are; I can't imagine too much better than that.”
Dr. Cossaboon will continue to better students’ lives as a school psychologist in Jackson Hole beginning next fall.
Mrs. Wagner- Social Studies:
Karen Wagner began teaching in Cody six years ago, but has been involved in education much longer, “this is my tenth year teaching high school social studies, and before Cody, I taught at Rock Springs High School for four years,” she said.
Even at a young age, Wagner knew that education in some capacity was in her future; “I grew up in a family of educators; I think there was only one year – like kindergarten through 12th grade – where I didn't have a parent working at the building,” she added. Her family’s background inspired her steps into not only education, but also social studies in particular, “in a good way I had – specifically with social studies – a couple of teachers through middle school and high school that made it really fun and engaging. I just always loved the content of social studies and never really considered anything else; but it’s worked out pretty well for me,” said Wagner.
Along with developing a strong culture in the classroom, Wagner has been the driving force behind CHS’s recent successes in state and national ‘We The People’ competitions. “I've kind of spent the past six years building We The People, and I feel like we got more people to buy-in each year, and the kids kind of got more excited for it, so it was really a cool moment to make it to DC and just watching through [the students] eyes, you know, seeing the monuments and going to the Capitol for the first time; that was really fun for me as a teacher,” Wagner added.
Wagner revealed that what she will miss the most about Cody and CHS is the students and staff that she works with every day; “the people are the prize; I love that phrase. This decision was really bittersweet, and in the short term it actually sucks. Like leaving my department and the students I'm excited to be around, but in the long term I just feel like there's some exciting new challenges professionally and personally for me and my family; so that's why it's kind of a bittersweet decision,” she said, “I have been so fortunate to get to know so many awesome people – students and teachers; and I'm honestly bummed about not getting to see them through to their senior year, but I’m ready for this change,” continued Wagner.
Mrs. Wagner will continue to teach social studies and stay involved with We The People at Sheridan High School next year. We wish all of our outgoing staff the best of luck in their next adventures, you will all be missed dearly!