No whining.

There are only two classrooms that have these ominous words posted on their walls: Rooms B142 and A2024. Teachers William “Bill” and Karelyn Barkhurst did not hang this sign as a threat to their students, but as a call to action to overcome even the most difficult of obstacles.

“Accept the challenge and stretch yourself,” Mrs. Barkhurst said. “Take a chance, take the risk.”

Mr. Barkhurst shares a similar mindset towards tackling life’s ups-and-downs.

“Never give up,” Mr. Barkhurst said.

Their advice echoes in the thoughts of their students, including senior Ryan Marsh who took Honors Physics with Mr. Barkhurst last year.

“Mr. Barkhurst may seem very intimidating at first but when you get to know him, you find out he’s just a fun, loveable guy,” Marsh said. “He’s been one of my favorite teachers of all time and I still go to talk to him.”

Senior Dasha Sprouse, who was one of Mrs. Barkhurst’s English students last year, had a similar reflection about her teacher.

“Mrs. Barkhurst is always nice,” Sprouse said. “She was really helpful and she brought the best out of me.”

Before the Barkhursts were making an impression on the school’s many students, both had not expected to become teachers after discharging from the military.

“When we moved here, a mom on my daughter’s fast-pitch softball team suggested I go into substitute teaching,” Mrs. Barkhurst said. “And I said, ‘Well, it beats staying at home and you could only vacuum for so long.’”

Mr. Barkhurst took a different route toward teaching. After he got out of the military, Mr. Barkhurst worked on air defense command and control centers before retiring.

“Karelyn was jealous of me not having to do anything,” Mr. Barkhurst said. “So she said ‘Get out of the house and go find something to do.’”

As his wife was getting her teaching certification at the time, Mr. Barkhurst decided to follow in her footsteps.

“I thought I was going to be a math teacher, but I realized there was a shortage of physics teachers,” Mr. Barkhurst said. “Lo and behold, I became a physics teacher.”

Like trying many things for the first time, Mr. Barkhurst was hesitant to begin formally teaching physics.

“He was moaning and groaning about teaching physics, but then he came back and said ‘Oh I like this, it’s math with toys,’” Mrs. Barkhurst said.

Years later, the main reason that they have been coming back for more is their students.

“It’s the kids,” Mrs. Barkhurst said. “I’ve had the tough kids come back to me looking for me just to say ‘Hi’ and that to me is the winner.”

Mr. Barkhurst shared the same reasoning. The joy of teaching a subject is the students.

“The reason why I do it is because I like the look on students’ faces, the ‘Aha’ moment when students realize ‘I get this!’” Mr. Barkhurst said. “It’s the look when they say ‘Hey wait a minute, I know what’s going on! This is really cool.’”

While many students enjoy the benefits of having the Barkhursts as their teachers, very few know how and where the two first met.

“Fort Huachuca, Arizona,” Mrs. Barkhurst said. “We also called it Fort ‘We gotcha.’”

Both were staying at the apartments for single officers, known casually as ‘bachelor officers’ quarters’ by the resident members of the military.

“I’m not a chef, so I would ‘recruit’ a young lady to cook with the promise that I would buy the food if she cooked it,” Mr. Barkhurst said. “She would eat for free but all she had to do was cook for me.”

But nothing in his life experience or military career could prepare him for what happened next.

“I was in the process of doing that when I met Karelyn,” Mr. Barkhurst said. “She wouldn’t do it.”

Instead, the future Mr. and Mrs. Barkhurst used a critical ingredient from the recipe of any successful marriage. Compromise. Neither of them was willing to cook, so they had to come up with the next best option.

“We found a place that made the best Chimichangas in Arizona,” Mrs. Barkhurst said.

The rest was made history by a simple law of physics Mr. Barkhurst’s students learn in the second semester: opposites attract.

“He likes to see things in black and white,” Mrs. Barkhurst said. “I see the grey.”

Although they see different shades on the monochromatic spectrum, everyone can identify the one thing they have in common. With the impressive array of the school’s sports teams covering their classroom walls and a constant flow of enthusiastic former students excited to visit them, there’s no doubt that the Barkhursts bleed West’s royal blue.