David Winter occupied room 134 during his time at McCallum, teaching his Intro to Journalism class and advising over the McCallum newspaper, The Shield. Winter decided to retire at the end of the 2024-2025 school year. Even though Winter is no longer an AISD employee, McCallum faculty and students may see him wandering around the McCallum halls. Whether it’s as a teaching artist for Working Assumptions, working as a freelance photographer for the McCallum football, Blue Brigade and cheer teams, or even just out for a jog around campus, Winter has found a way to stay connected to the McCallum community.

“I never once stopped loving this community,” Winter said. “It was pretty hard detaching from the newspaper, so being involved in these activities is pretty weird, but I am just so grateful this community still gives me the chance to be involved.” 

One thing that Winter was in charge of leading while he taught at McCallum was the Working Assumptions project that all intro students participate in. Working Assumptions is a non-profit organization based in Berkley, California, that explores the give-and-take of families via photo projects. Winter has been collaborating with Working Assumptions for the past nine years, inviting other teaching artists into his classroom, but this year, he has decided to level up his game and teach the lessons himself. 

“WRKxFMLY is a national photo project where teaching artists come to schools and work with students and teachers to create these autobiographical photos that show how work and family co-exist in everyday life,” said Winter. 

Over the summer, Winter hopped a plane to Berkeley to meet the Working Assumptions staff and tour the facilities. According to Winter, attending this summit restored his dedication to the project.  

“I was always going to be an active participant in the program, but what I didn’t count on was the fact that the summit completely rekindled my commitment to the project that I hadn’t expected,” Winter said. “Working with the teaching artists on the project made me realize that I could still be a part of the program even though I am a retired teacher.” 

After touching down in California, Winter met with Chad Coerver, president and marketing strategist of Working Assumptions. Coerver, a Yale graduate, has worked for numerous non-profit organizations over the span of 20 years, and has obtained a reputation for pushing organizations to pursue arts and cultural projects to bring in new audiences. 

Coerver remembers initially meeting with Winter and discussing plans for WRKxFMLY. For Coerver, it was safe to say Winter blew him away.  

Winter says this meeting with Coerver is what truly sparked his desire to commit to teaching WRKxFMLY at McCallum. 

“I wasn’t teaching anymore when I arrived at the summit, so Chad said I should apply to be a teaching artist,” Winter said. “I hadn’t really thought about that before the summit, but I assumed I had a pretty good chance of being accepted since the president of the whole program recommended me.” 

According to Coerver, having a background in journalism can contribute valuable experience that can help students achieve the goals of the WRKxFMLY assignment.

“At Working Assumptions, we often think of the WRKxFMLY assignment as an invitation to students to become embedded reporters in their own families,” Coerver said. “In order to be successful at it, you have to sift through everyday life for stories just as a journalist would.” 

Luckily for Working Assumptions, they have found a teacher who fits the ideals of the project, has background knowledge in journalism, and is able to connect with students on a deeper level. According to Coerver, that teacher is Dave Winter. 

“You have to be interested in the nuances of how humans relate to one another, and you have to develop a vision for how words and images can come together to weave a compelling tale,” Coerver said. “Dave is so talented at these things he could lead the entire program himself. “Because of Dave, we now look specifically to partner with schools that already have strong journalism programs in place.” 

Along with teaching at Working Assumptions, Winter has also taken on the responsibility of taking photos for the McCallum football, Blue Brigade and cheer teams after being hired by the booster clubs. For former PhotoJ student and senior offensive lineman Dylan Fissel, having Winter around hasn’t been so bad. 

“I’ve known Mr. Winter ever since my freshman year when he was my digital media teacher, and he was just so fun to be around,” Fissel said. “Since he’s been helping out with the football booster club, I’ve gotten to know him a lot better this year.” 

One of the most memorable moments, according to Fissel, during football season was the little side chats he and Winter would engage in during games. 

“We’ve talked more and worked around each other since he started coming out to the games, so I’d definitely say we grew closer,” Fissel said. “We’d talk during halftime or before the game when I saw him, mainly just to ask how he’s doing or how the pictures are turning out.” 

One single memory that stuck out to Winter was a single photo he had taken after the varsity team defeated Connally and allowed the Knights to potentially make the playoffs. After the game, Winter recalls Fissel hunting him down in the crowd and requesting a photo of the offensive linemen. After the photo was taken, other players slowly made their way into frame, capturing a moment of celebration after the tough win. For Winter, his ability to capture moments like this makes his job worthwhile. 

“Dylan really made this picture happen,” Winter said. “I mean, he gathered the team together, and it just really displayed his leadership, and it ended up being virtually the entire team. He orchestrated this spontaneous team picture at one of the best moments in their entire season, and it started with him finding me to take the picture, which is really special.” 

From the words of Coerver, Dave Winter continues to educate and interact with students on an organic level, inspiring and innovating, teaching and learning, and growing and changing even after retirement.   

 “Dave’s retirement came just at the right time for us [Working Assumptions] because it meant he had the time to contribute his deep expertise to the next generation of the program,” Coerver said. “He has been helping us write and review the updated assignment, and we are very lucky to have him involved.” 

The kudos for Winter and his impact on the McCallum community have spared no expense, according to Fissel and the rest of the football program. 

“I am really gonna miss seeing Winter around all the time when I graduate in May,” Fissel said. “I am sure he’ll be around for a while, though; he’s like a McCallum hall of famer.”