To help students develop their
crucial interpersonal skills, Tokar
utilizes board and strategy games
like chess, Magic: The Gathering, and
Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Tokar is
a big fan of D&D. He is the “Dungeon
Master” for a weekly game he hosts
with friends. He also enjoys painting
miniatures for tabletop games.
“It’s too easy to be impersonal
when playing a computer game,” he
declared. “I want the kids to put their
phones away, sit down, and interact
with one another.” Participation is
mandatory and the students enjoy
it. “They have fun learning and their
horizons are broadened.”
Tanner Ogden, a former student
credits Tokar with teaching him not
only IT, but also the “professionalism
that enabled me to jump start my
career at such an early age.”
Figure IT out yourself
It’s important to Tokar that his
students learn to figure things out by
themselves. “I don’t believe in giving
answers to problems and having the
students parrot it back,” he said. “I’m
constantly saying, ‘go figure it out.’
In the workplace there will always be
things you have to figure out on your
own.”
Tokar also loves certifications be-
lieving that they show ability as much
as a college degree and are often more
relevant. “Certifications will continue
being a relevant part of the IT indus-
try for a long time to come,” he said.The secret to Tokar’s success with
students rests on his love for them
and the subject matter. “I absolutely
love teaching IT,” he said. “I love my
kids, I love the programs, and I espe-
cially love when a student works hard
and manages to figure something dif-
ficult out. The excitement and sense of
accomplishment they feel, and I feel,
is amazing.”
The one thing Tokar doesn’t love
is how difficult it is to expand the
school’s IT program. Each year more
students want to enroll than there
are spaces. “It’s really difficult to find
people knowledgeable and passionate
about being an IT instructor. “The
industry pays too well for them to go
into teaching.”
Fortunately, marines are at their
best when the fighting is thickest and
the lines are thinnest. Tokar finds
success by innovating, adapting, and
overcoming and, along the way, helps
change a few young lives for the
better.PEOPLE IN CERTIFICATION
To help students
develop their crucial
inter-personal skills,
Tokar utilizes board
and strategy games
like chess, Magic:
The Gathering and
Dungeons & Dragons
(D&D). Tokar is a big
fan of D&D.