Gerald Buhaly announces retirement plans at end of school year

For someone who never thought they’d go into academia, they sure made their mark! Gerald Buhaly graduated with a physics degree and was abroad in Holland in 1986. “I had never anticipated being a teacher. I ended up starting my career overseas in an international school in Holland and in my immature mind at the time it was a way that I could stay in Europe. And so, it was an opportunity for me to stay and live somewhere different and experience that and also do something that I enjoyed.”

Holland was where he met his wife, Marjan, and they moved to Sweden for four years before trekking to Germany and Sri Lanka, and then coming to the states and working in Indianapolis.  All the while, Buhaly was teaching in the International Baccalaureate program, holding the role of principal for several schools. “I was an IB coordinator. I was a principal of IB schools. I was an IB examiner. I really enjoyed that program and had a lot of interest in it and helped develop that in the schools that I was working in.”

Along the way, Buhaly’s family was growing, with two children now in tow. The allure of raising his children near his family in the Tacoma-Seattle region was strong. “I was looking for a school in the NW in order to bring my young family closer to my parents. I was also looking for a school that my kids could attend.”

And as fate would have it, the position of Upper School Head came available at Overlake. “The culture, openness, importance of relationships (I still remember being interviewed by a panel of students) and the environment at Overlake fit both me personally and what I wanted for my kids.”

So, for the past 16 years Buhaly has overseen the development of hundreds of Upper Schoolers, including his own two children, Connor (13) and Meike (’15). “They started here in fifth and seventh grade respectively. I like to say that it was the best professional development I ever had because, even though I had worked in high schools all my career, I'd never experienced it as a parent. And to watch my children go through the high school here was eye-opening and inspiring as well, because all the things that I had said to promote the school, I could see as a parent happening with my own children. It's really rewarding to be able to be in this position and have your children thrive in a school that you've helped to guide.”

With his children launched and well into young adulthood, now’s the time for Buhaly to do some things that he hasn’t always had the time for, like salmon fishing in the late summer- early fall. “Most people know I like fly fishing. Kent Renno, Experiential Education Chair does too. And every year he and I bemoan the fact that school starts right when the best salmon fishing in Puget Sound happens!”

Beyond fishing, Buhaly plans to spend time traveling, gardening, cooking, and spending time with his children and their families. But of course, those activities will have to wait until Buhaly and his colleagues get through the rest of the school year! “We're sitting here mid-October and I've got eight more months, right? There's a long time ahead of me, right? I'm not very good at lengthy goodbyes.”