Years ago, Kieran Walsh roamed Pascack Valley High School’s halls. Now he’s back — this time at the front of the classroom.

Pascack Valley graduate and former Woodside Elementary School art teacher Kieran Walsh has returned to his alma mater as the new photography teacher, aiming to make a lasting impact on students at the high school level.

“I never thought when leaving PV that I’d be back at PV,” Walsh said. “It was definitely never a goal.”

As a student, Walsh was involved in soccer at PV and had many of the teachers who still teach today.

“I had almost all of them,” Walsh said. “I had Coleman as a coach and played with Ronnie [Villone], too.”

Teachers recall him clearly. Supervisor of English, Arts, and Libraries Valerie Mattessich taught Walsh in English.

“He was very beloved even then,” Mattessich said. “He was a great athlete, everyone liked him… he was nice to everybody.”

After graduation, Walsh continued his soccer career at Sacred Heart University, playing for five years while studying graphic design. His work pulled him into the fashion and advertising world after graduation— and eventually into luxury real estate marketing.

“I was in the world of super high-end luxury: real estate, fashion, jewelry. Those three wheels were mine,” Walsh said. His work included branding for Central Park Tower, the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere.

At first, the fast-paced and glamorous lifestyle seemed exciting. But over time, the industry’s excess began to weigh on him.

“Do I want to continue to sell rich things to rich people who don’t really care?” Walsh remembers asking himself. “I loved what I was doing. It was just who I was doing it for.”

Walsh describes an example of his work: sending out iPad invitations that cost $700 apiece addressed to celebrities like Oprah, knowing they might never even open them.

“It’s like, we’re just throwing away money,” Walsh said. “Really, what difference are you making?”

Those questions led him back to school at Montclair State University, where he earned his master’s teaching certification and a special education license.

For Walsh, the decision to go back to school made sense.

“I have a Special Ed sister, I already had the art stuff done, and I was going to be coaching at a high school, so it all kind of made sense,” he said.

At the time, Walsh was working as an assistant soccer coach with former PV soccer coach Roy Nygren at Don Bosco Prep. Years later, Walsh continues as an assistant coach.

Walsh student-taught in South Orange and later covered for a maternity leave before moving to Woodside, his former elementary school. He spent two years at the school teaching art.

While Walsh enjoyed the energy of elementary school students, he sensed his long-term impact would be greater at the high school level.

Woodside was a stepping stone for Walsh from the corporate world to the high school level. When photography teacher Christine Back retired, Walsh saw the opportunity to return to PVHS.

“Woodside seems like a little farm system to Valley, for art anyway,” he said. “I really liked Woodside, but I thought, long term, I can probably have more of an impact at this level.”

“Elementary is fun, but it’s a lot of babysitting sometimes—not that I’m saying here is not babysitting sometimes,” Walsh joked. “[But here] I think you can… kind of set people up for [life] after Valley…”

Walsh hopes to use his position to not only teach students how to become photographers but also to put himself in his students’ shoes to help them see opportunities after Valley.

“[I can] maybe show students different ways to make money, different ways to make a name for yourself, different ways to use art in the real world…” said Walsh.

For Mattessich, Walsh’s return is no surprise.

“I always knew that he’d probably end up with us when the time was right,” she said. “A lot of times, elementary school teachers do try and move up to high school at some point.”

Mattessich also recalled Walsh’s class cause back when he was still at Valley: the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association (PWSA). Walsh’s sister lives with Prader-Willi Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects about 6,500 babies worldwide each year, according to pwsausa.org.

Mattessich noted the influence of Walsh’s sister on him as a student, teacher, and person: “I just feel like he was always extremely sensitive to everybody—just being nice to all different types of people.” Mattessich said. “[Walsh] also had a mellow personality, and that just added to it.”

As for Walsh, the journey—from PV student, to college athlete, to high-end marketer, to Woodside art teacher, and now back to Valley—reflects both a career shift and a personal calling.

“I can actually have a lasting impact here,” he said. “Maybe help students see opportunities I didn’t even know existed when I was their age.”