Jacob Chow

Smiling, Mr. Alex Klussmann shows his school spirit on beach dress-up day. Entering his first year teaching, Mr. Klussmann is excited for all to come in his new journey.

An enthusiastic “all right class” reverberates through a chemistry classroom at the beginning of the block, signifying the start of another lesson, and showing the teacher’s passion for the topic he is about to introduce.

Mr. Alex Klussmann begins his teaching career at Westwood this year, instructing Advanced and International Barriculate (IB) Chemistry classes. Entering his first year teaching, Mr. Klussmann is excited for what awaits: being a part of Westwood’s community and witnessing student success.

“I got a great team here at Westwood,” Mr. Klussman said. “Not only with the chemistry faculty, but also with admin and other folks that I’ve met. I feel very prepared for all that Westwood has. I mean, it’s exciting.”

A Washington native, Mr. Klussman began his chemistry journey in high school when he developed a passion for science, participating in his school’s Chemistry Club to further pursue his interst in the subject. After high school, Mr. Klussmann attended Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) in Seattle, Washington. 

“I went to PLU like my father. In the 80s, He studied chemistry [and] became a physician, an ophthalmologist,” Mr. Klussman said. “Also, my mom, she’s a nurse, and she was always very involved with my academia. Both of them together were influential with me deciding to pursue science, but also chemistry in general.”

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and teaching, Mr. Klussmann moved to Austin in 2020 and had a couple of interviews before eventually interviewing at Westwood. 

“Whenever I interviewed here the question they asked was, ‘why here’? And I said, I just want to be somewhere where kids want to be. I want to teach kids who actively want to learn about chemistry,” Mr. Klussmann said. “You know, all these good schools exist all around the Austin area and Round Rock ISD, but I think Westwood has a very high concentration of those higher achieving students, and I want to be part of that influencing the future leaders of the world.”

Outside of teaching, Mr. Klussman is an ardent soccer fan and player, admiring the sport since he was five years old.

“[I’ve played] as long as I can remember. Won a few state championships, won a few tournaments, then actually also played in college for a few years,” Mr. Klussmann said. “ [Currently, I play] with my church. We have a summer league, it’s indoor, [and] isn’t super competitive. It’s more to kick around and hang out.”

After witnessing the impact teaching had while he was in high school, Mr. Klussmann gained a new admiration for teaching. 

“There was a night I was contemplating, how can I make my impact,” Mr. Klussmann said. “I settled on teaching. It was kind of scary at first, because it’s not the most high-paying job. [But it] felt like I was called to teaching.” 

Due to his passion for teaching, Mr. Klussmann aspires to encourage student achievement and growth, and to spark interest in chemistry as well.

“[At teacher orientation], there was a diagram that Ms. Campbell used,” Mr. Klussmann said. “It [asked], ‘How do you feel coming to the first day? Is it like Christmas, or like Halloween?’ And for me, it kind of felt like New Year’s. It’s fun. It’s fresh. I’m excited for all that Westwood has to offer.”