By WESLIE GRAHAM
Moapa Valley Progress
After many dedicated years as a local art teacher and well-known artist, Max Bunnell has been chosen as the Grand Marshall for the 2014 Moapa Valley High School Homecoming Parade.
“I’m really surprised,” Bunnell said of discovering the appointment. “Art teachers don’t usually get that kind of recognition.”
Bunnell said he is honored and shocked to represent Moapa Valley as Grand Marshall and that when he was told about it, his first thought was, “Who, me?”.
Moapa Valley High School Assistant Principal Pledger Solomon said that the Homecoming Committee has been considering individuals for the 2014 Grand Marshall since Homecoming last year.
“His name was on everybody’s mind,” he said.
According to Solomon the criteria for a Grand Marshall appointment includes being an educator in the valley who has been dedicated to the students and who has a passion for art.
“That was clearly Max Bunnell,” he said. “His name came up over and over again.”
Bunnell taught art to junior high and high school students in Moapa Valley beginning in 1954. He said that, over the last 60 years since then, the thing that has changed the most is the size of the school. He said that at the beginning of his teaching career there were around 120 students in all four grades at the high school.
The thing that has endeared him to Moapa Valley the most is the people, Bunnell said.
“There are wonderful people in the Valley,” he said. “That’s where I fell in love with teaching, is here.”
Following many years teaching youth, Bunnell moved on to teach on the college level at Dixie College. There the students were different but still wonderful, he said.
“The majority of kids are very wonderful,” he said, admitting that every now and then some students will act up.
He explained that if they are shown love that students will thrive.
“Teaching was my favorite,” he said of his career as an artist.
Bunnell graduated from Brigham Young University majoring in Art and Education. He later received his Master’s in Fine Arts. He received his high school diploma just weeks before earning his Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.
At age 17 Bunnell enlisted in the Navy and was stationed in Hawaii. Having left high school to join the service, he missed the opportunity to graduate. Upon his return a friend convinced him to study at BYU instead of finishing his GED at a local tech school.
Just before his college graduation, BYU administration contacted him and informed him that graduating from college was not permissible without first graduating from high school. Bunnell completed the required GED testing and received his high school diploma just two weeks before he received his diploma from BYU.
Bunnell’s first teaching job was in Moapa Valley where he taught history as well as art.
“I love it here,” he said.
Bunnell resides in Overton and looks forward to this year’s Homecoming festivities.
