By Mechelle Peinado

Bob Palmer was 17-years-old and sitting in Mr. Johnson’s Algebra II class in Room 9 at Portland Adventist Academy (PAA) when he felt something click. He knew he wanted to be a high school math teacher. What he didn’t know was that it would take him a few years to get there. Over three decades, in fact. But it turns out the journey wasn’t wasted.

Bob calls those years after his Room 9 decision his wilderness journey.

Through high school and into college, Bob spent his summers at camp. It was nine years of outdoor work he loved deeply. He began his university education in secondary math education, but life has a way of redirecting, and Bob transitioned into horticulture, earning his B.S. while staying close to the outdoors and the hands-on work he knew well. Still, there were signs. A professor once slipped him a note: "You should be a teacher." Bob tucked it away and kept moving.

Life led him to Big Lake Youth Camp, where he served as a task force worker and then as ranger for 20 years. It wasn’t a classroom, but Bob still taught. He showed camp staff the practical skills needed to do their jobs and keep the facility running. Campers and employees watched, listened, and learned.  

Every couple of years, Dick Molstead, then VP of Education for the Oregon Conference, would make his way out to Big Lake and ask Bob the same question: Are you ready to stop playing around and become a teacher? They’d laugh, but Bob was getting closer.

After two decades at camp, Bob transitioned to a local school district and then to an Adventist elementary school, where his love for education flourished while he worked as a facilities manager. In hindsight, Bob says he now better understands the road he traveled. The decades that felt like detours, the sidetracks and seasons, even the stops along the way were part of a learning, growing and trust-building journey. A journey that led to a familiar place.  

Bob returned to school–as a student this time–and earned his M.A. in Teaching. He submitted his resignation as facilities manager six months before the school year ended, with no teaching job lined up, just faith that the same God who he learned from this far was not finished yet.

Then the call came: a high school math position had opened up. Not at just any school. His school. PAA.

This is Bob's fourth year teaching math in Room 9, the very classroom where he sat as a 17-year-old and decided to teach. The wilderness journey led him home.

His students will tell you he was worth the wait. Bob tutors before school, through lunch, and for hours after the final bell. He shaved his head for a class fundraiser without hesitation. He wore a dubiously stylish green velour tracksuit to show class spirit with zero embarrassment. He drives the bus (enthusiastically). And beyond the classroom, Bob is simply there, at games, music performances, drama productions, and baptisms, cheering on his students at every turn. When there is an opportunity to show up for a kid, Bob Palmer does not miss it.

Bob Palmer knows from personal experience that God's plans are to prosper us. He knows the wilderness is never a detour. It is always preparation.

And Room 9 has never been in better hands.