Mr. Jonathan Keefer is a teacher of the Economics, Government, and Advanced Placement Government classes here at Glendale High School. He was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, and he later moved to North Carolina, San Francisco, and Oregon at a young age. This constant movement was due to his father’s enlistment in the army. 

Mr. Keefer attended Whitman College in Washington State and majored in History. After he received his degree, Mr. Keefer was living in Long Beach with his friends. When he got a call about an opportunity to work at GHS, the job sounded like the right fit for him, so he came in and secured his teaching position in 2006. 

Before teaching, Mr. Keefer was a major athlete, participating in sports such as baseball and football over the years. His interest in athletics never came to a stop, because once Mr. Keefer was hired at GHS, he became the head baseball coach and an assistant football coach. 

In his spare time, Mr. Keefer enjoys watching Euphoria (Team Maddy), Yellowstone, and The Office. Of course, spending time with his children and his wife, Mrs. Lisa Keefer, is his favorite thing to do throughout the day. 

During his first year of teaching at this school, Mr. Keefer met Mrs. Keefer (then Ms. Peerali) at a staff meeting. After they were introduced to one another, the two of them became best friends. As time passed, they secretly started dating, and eventually Mr. Keefer proposed to Mrs. Keefer while they were vacationing in Paris. Now they have two beautiful children at home and they get to do what makes them the happiest together: teaching.

Mr. Keefer only teaches seniors at GHS, because according to him, they “are just…awesome” and he doesn’t “need to babysit them.” The downside to this is that the seniors graduate after he has formed a bond with them, and he rarely sees them after they graduate. However, Mr. Keefer revealed that he is simply “happy they are [moving] on to better things.” 

Mr. Keefer’s overall goal is to inform his students and allow them to express themselves politically, along with teaching them about the world’s economic status and how to understand it. “As messed up as America is, the students can always do their part to make it better in the future,” he said.

Another message that our “Commander in Keef” has for the students at Glendale High School is that he is “better than Mr. O’Malley.” 

If you are interested in taking a class with Mr. Keefer in the future, please contact your counselor.