Dan Schremser believes there are hundreds of reasons to get up each morning — and they all carry backpacks.

Schremser, 84, better known around in the hallways of Pinecrest Elementary School as Grandpa Dan, volunteers at the school several times a week and has done so before the plastic was taken off new furniture when the school opened in 1998.

In fact, he helped tear off that plastic.

“We saw this thing rise from a swamp to what it is today,” he said.

He often gets to school before the students and doesn’t leave until they’ve gone home for the day.

Schremser said there was no single reason for his volunteer work. He simply saw a chance to help both the school and himself.

“There was a need,” he said of teachers struggling to keep every student on track in the classroom. “It kind of gives me something to look forward to everyday, a personal need within me to do it.”

He said even after 13 years at Pinecrest, he is still taken aback by the effort of the teachers he assists on a daily basis.

“Lord knows, I don’t know how they do it,” he said.

Although he’s there to help teach students, Schremser said he didn’t expect to be the one coming away with lessons learned.

“Patience. They taught me about patience,” he said. He said he learned quickly that becoming frustrated with students, particularly the younger ones, was an “exercise in futility.”

Instead, Schremser said he has adopted a fresh approach.

“I put myself in their position,” he said. “I guess you have to have the mentality of a second- or third-grader to communicate with them. You learn to think like a kid to get along with the kid.”

He said he finds himself “rejuvenated” by the students who themselves are eager to have time with Grandpa Dan.

“I enjoy it because the kids enjoy it,” he said. “I guess we kind of feed off of one another.”

Students in Sandy Carpenter’s fourth grade class agree.

Kate Ford, 10, and her classmates have learned important life lessons from the oldest Panther to walk the halls.

“He’s a really sweet man who would do anything to help,” she said. “He doesn’t do it for himself, it’s for everyone else.”

Schremser has seen some of his own grandchildren through their “tour of duty” at Pinecrest.

He watched his granddaughter, Lacee Ness, enter kindergarten there. Next year, he plans to watch her graduate from Olympic High School.

Over the years, Schremser said he has seen the school struggle and prosper, and has “worn out” two principals.

Born in North Dakota in the 1925, Schremser lived through the Great Depression and served in both World War II and the Korean War in the Coast Guard.

Now, he channels that experience into historical presentations, biographical in nature, for the students.

Inside a display case in the school’s library is a cardboard tool used for communicating with morse code. As part of the history lesson, the students learned how to send messages.

Ford said Schremser’s detailed accounts gave her a new and engaging perspective on history.

“It kind of tells us about his life and the history of our country,” she said. “It was sad but quite hilarious at some parts.”

Schremser also worked briefly for the Washington State Ferries and then made a career as a marine electrician at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, where he retired nearly 25 years ago.

Despite the endless amount of stories he tells, Schremser said he isn’t ready to retire and will volunteer until he can’t anymore.

“To still know I have some useful function, that’s why I do it,” he said, pouring over an overflowing box of thank-you cards, projects made in his honor and pictures from the last 13 years.

As to when he’ll hang up his volunteer badge for good, he’s not concerned about that.

“I leave that to a higher authority than me,” he said.