Rusty Branon is one of Bellow Free Academy St. Albans’ new physical education teachers. He has many years of experience in this field of teaching to contribute to BFA. 

According to Branon, he started coaching football at BFA in 1986. He did not start college right out of high school; he worked on his family farm for three years until he decided he loved coaching so much that he wanted to be a teacher, so he went to college and started his new career path.

“What got me into teaching was coaching,” Branon said.   

Branon said he started at St. Albans City school in 1992 and stayed there for 30 years teaching mainly 3rd through 8th grade where he was a physical education teacher. He eventually wanted a change and saw the opportunity of working with high school students and joined BFA.

Currently, Branon said he is an Assistant Coach for the Bobwhite football team. In past years, he also coached basketball at the high school level and softball for younger grades. 

According to Branon, he never stopped his love for the farm; he said he still helps on the family farm while also having his own sugaring business with his wife. Their business is called Branon’s Barrywilde Maple, LLC. They wanted the land to pay for itself so on top of the tree tapping, they added value to the business with the maple products that they sell. 

Branon said he is a busy man but finds joy in all the activities he does from working on his own business to contributing to the BFA community. 

“I wanted some of the challenges…that’s why I switched to the high school. I wanted to keep it challenging for me,” Branon said.

Branon said he is enjoying the change of being a high school teacher and continuing to impact many more students and seeing some of his City students as now they are high school students.

BFA students and community members can find Branon at the gym, football field or in the halls of the school.