From loud student leader to West High counselor, Benjamin Hirdler reflects on involvement, school spirit, and what’s changed since his time as a Wahawk

Benjamin Hirdler is now in his third year as a counselor at Waterloo West High School, but he’s not new to the building. He graduated from West in the Class of 2015, and back then, he was known for being involved in just about everything.

“I went my senior year, I took AP Lit… and that’s when I decided I wanted to be an English teacher,” Hirdler said.

That plan didn’t go exactly as he expected. During college, he switched from a teaching major to an English major.

“I graduated college in 2019 and I couldn’t find a job because I was an English major,” he said. “I worked at Target, then the pandemic hit… I ended up getting a job at Holmes working with counselors, and I was like, you know what, I think I would be really good at counseling.”

Now he’s back at West, working with students in a role that still connects him to the same place that shaped him.

“I started coaching theater right away… so that kind of burst that bubble for me,” he said about going from student to staff. “It’s weird, but it also feels like community.”

As a student, Hirdler was everywhere, tennis, golf, theater, honor roll, NHS, student leadership, Homecoming Court, student section leader, and even editor-in-chief of The Spectator. People remember him for one main thing: his energy.

“There really wasn’t a limit to it,” said former classmate and teacher at West Mr. Sabic. Sabic also said that energy could go both ways. “He was a clever student who easily crossed the line to annoying,” he said.

Teachers noticed it too. “He made his presence known,” said English teacher AJ Cassidy. “He was always one of the loudest voices trying to bring ‘pep’ and enthusiasm.”

Cassidy said Hirdler’s connection to West never really left. “He never speaks negatively about his hometown,” Cassidy said. “He always frames things in a positive manner.”

Now as a counselor, Hirdler still pushes that same idea of involvement but he’s also seen how much harder that can be for students today.

“I try to be really encouraging for folks to try stuff,” he said. “When I meet with kids and they say they don’t like school, I try to connect 

them with something they might like.”

“Everybody should just find something to get involved with,” Hirdler said. “There’s a niche for everybody.”

Looking back at his own time at West, he said school spirit wasn’t something he had to be forced into it just became part of who he was.

“I started taking a lot of pride in being at West,” he said. “I really liked Waterloo. Going back to West felt like serving my community.”

For Hirdler, coming back to West wasn’t just a job, it was returning to something familiar.

From loud student section leader to counselor in the same hallways, Hirdler is still a Wahawk just in a different role now.