Tom Trosko
Educator
Teacher
It’s an understatement to say that Tom Trosko is a man of many talents.
At different points in his life he was a restaurant cook, waiter, bartender, manager, insurance salesman, supervising agent, car sales, closer, finance manager, and now he teaches marketing and all social studies at an alternative school, the Lieser Campus at Fort Vancouver High School in Vancouver, Washington.
A true “Renaissance Man,” Tom holds degrees in Management and Accounting from Portland Community College (1990), a B.S. in Social Science from Warner Pacific College (1999) and a Masters in Curriculum and Development from Portland State University (2003).
His proudest moment in teaching is when he has his students read “The Law” by Bastiat. “I then ask them to tell me how much our country is off track from the Tenth Amendment and how far away we have gotten from Article one section eight.”
Tom says economic history is by far his favorite subject to teach. “Teaching the fact that the commerce clause was there to help keep commerce flowing, not to stop it.”
For Tom, teaching about our system of government is an opportunity to encourage young people who believe that “the system is rigged against them” to get involved and bring about change in their community and in their country.
Tom sums it all up in one word: “Fun!”