Earlier this year, Scott Guttentag, a longtime Dos Pueblos High School counselor, announced his upcoming retirement after the 2025-26 school year. To honor his contributions to the school community and culture, the DPHS Greek Theater was officially renamed the Scott Guttentag Greek Theater during first period on May 19. The event was kept secret from Guttentag and the entire student body until its reveal. The ceremony took place on Guttentag’s birthday and featured a school-wide singing of “Happy Birthday.”

“I think everybody thought he’d be here forever, and when he announced that he was looking to make this his last year at DP, we talked about what would be the best way to honor him,” DPHS Principal Bill Woodard said. “The place that epitomizes him the most is the Greek Theater.”

At DPHS, the Greek Theater is known as a hub for community events and school spirit, from hosting weekly lunchtime activities to biannual pep rallies, all of which Guttentag is involved in the organization of. Woodard said that he couldn’t recall the last “big DP event” that Guttentag did not attend. DPHS has only had three activities directors since it opened in 1966, and Guttentag has served in that role for over 25 years.

“He is completely locked into his roles here at DP, this is his passion and his love,” Woodard said. “You can just see it because he runs everywhere and he’s always got something in his hand, or going to this meeting or that meeting.”

As the DPHS administration team was formulating the plan to rename the Greek Theater in Guttentag’s honor, they found that Innovate Program Director Kelly Choi had the same idea.

“He’s unique in his passion for school spirit,” Choi said, “He really treasures the DP community, and he’s always just wanted to create opportunities for students to have a space here.”

According to Choi, the Greek Theater was chosen as the place to carry Guttentag’s name due to his “consistency and devotion” to ensuring that the Greek Theater served as a place where the entire student body could join together.

“When you’re someone who is dedicating that much time to making a culture that includes everyone at school, that makes you a pretty important person,” Choi said.

In 2004, Woodard began his career at DPHS as an English teacher. At the time, the principal had recently left, and though there was an interim principal, Guttentag was the one who was “really running the school.” As a new teacher, Woodard said he frequently relied on Guttentag,

“Everybody just said, ‘Go to Scott,’” Woodard said. “He was doing [the] master schedule, he was doing room assignments, he was doing everything.”

Additionally, Woodard attributed the “positive” attitude and culture of DPHS to Guttentag.

“That is a credit to his energy, his love for what he does, and just the joy he gets in working at DP,” Woodard said. “It’s kind of contagious. If you’re involved in something and Scotty’s also involved in something. His energy, his enthusiasm, it’s going to rub off on you.”

In his acceptance speech, Guttentag described the recognition as “special beyond words.” He expressed his love for DPHS, gratitude for being part of its community, and the pride he felt in having the Greek Theater named after him.

“It was kind of a dream of mine,” Guttentag said. “I go, ‘Maybe they’ll name the Greek after me, that would be kind of cool’ … I didn’t really think it was a thing [that would happen].”

In his career at DPHS, which has spanned over 36 years, Guttentag said that he never viewed coming to work as a job or obligation

“People say that education doesn’t pay very well,” Guttentag said. “[But] I can’t even imagine feeling more like a billionaire than I do with this. I don’t think that anyone can be luckier or happier to serve a school and to serve students.”

Woodard said he hopes that dedicating the Greek Theater to Guttentag will prompt future students to explore Guttentag’s legacy at DPHS.

“[Guttentag has] been very selfless over the years,” Woodard said. “I feel like we’re giving back to him the way he’s given back to us.”

The entire community has been invited to the celebration of  Guttentag in the newly renamed Scott Guttentag Greek Theater, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.