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Tell us a little bit about yourself. Your hobbies, your passions.

I am a husband to the most caring person in the world, Carrie, and the father of the three best kids in the world Max, Penny, and Lily. We spend our time together exploring, playing outside, going for hikes, playing soccer, going to dance recitals, and traveling around the United States on epic adventures. I have always loved to learn. I am a passionately curious person. As a young kid, I spent my time taking every electronic in the house apart, going for hikes in the woods for hours, and riding my bike for miles. I have always wanted to understand the world around me. My method of learning about the world has always been to explore. Being an educator allows me to share my passion for learning with my students.

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Where did you go to college and what led you into teaching?

I honestly attended a few different universities. My wife was in the Air Force, so I moved between Oklahoma and California, where she was stationed, a few times. I received my teaching degree from NSU, but I also learned a great deal at RSU, OSU, and California State University in Sacramento. I found a passion for understanding and teaching Physics while in college. Physics is our attempt to understand everything in this world so it makes sense that I would be drawn to it. While in college I was given a position as a teacher’s assistant where I helped students with topics in entry level physics courses. I slowly worked my way up to presenting research topics at seminars. During this time, I found my love for presenting knowledge and educating. 

Who mentored you into the educator you are today?

My mother and father set the foundation for who I am as an educator. They taught me how to listen, think, consider, and respond. I have had many mentors over the years. Jackie Casbolt mentored me for many years at Owasso High School. In truth in many ways all educators mentor each other. Walk down any given hallway at a school and you will find educators having discussions in an attempt to help each other to become better. Supporting each other is something all educators do. We are all in this together. We all have a common goal to educate and lift the youth up so that they can reach their goals. Hopefully lifting them so high up that they can see beyond our current horizon of knowledge and gaze on undiscovered ideas that will advance the world into the future.

What do you love about teaching?      

Teaching gives me the chance to ignite curiosity and creativity in the people around me. I love to present my students with questions that are difficult to “google”. Providing students with difficult questions forces them to use their imaginations to come up with creative solutions. I make it a goal every year to get my students to realize that textbooks are still being added onto meaning that people are discovering new things everyday. They are discovering and creating the material that future textbooks will be written to teach. The next unwritten chapter is currently being created by people that are using their imaginations to create new ideas that push our world to new levels of understanding. Creative and imaginative minds are the people that build the future. Every classroom discussion is a chance for me to introduce topics to students in creative ways. Getting the students to ask questions that google can’t answer is the absolute best feeling as an educator.

What is great about your current school?

There is a strong sense of community at Owasso Public Schools. The students at Owasso are inclusive and extremely active in clubs and extracurricular activities that are offered at the school. Owasso Public Schools is a family that is working together to make the community and world a better place. Owasso Public Schools is a Special Olympics Unified Champion school. Everyone should look into the mentoring program offered at Owasso High School to get a good idea of what the student population is capable of doing. The students in this program are beyond uplifting and heartwarming. The mentoring program Owasso offers is life changing and making the world a better place.

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Why is Science and Math education so important?

Science and Math education is vital in a school system. Technology is the tool of the future. Nearly everything in our modern world runs on technology. Introducing technology to students as often as possible allows students to work with the tools of the future to better their education and the world around them. If you were to walk through the halls at Owasso you would find Science and Math discussions are incorporated in virtually all of the classrooms.