Mr. Smith is math teacher with some unlikely hobbies. In this interview we dove into those hobbies and interests and how they came to be.
Q: What type of music do you listen to?
A: Usually pop or 80s music like Michael Jackson, Prince, and things like that, the later stuff. With the latest hits I do listen to, I know the younger people don’t listen to radio, but I do listen to 107 quite a bit.
Q: Outside of school, what are your favorite hobbies?
A: Probably weightlifting. I go to the gym four times a week, and it’s a way to relieve stress, and honestly, I use it as a social thing. I talk to people a lot, too. That’s probably my favorite hobby outside of school.
Q: What got you into weightlifting?
A: Well I was always smaller than normal. They don’t have the wrestling weight class anymore, but when I was a senior, I wrestled at 98. I went to Oshkosh North, and it’s not as big here in Fond du Lac, but when you’re a little bit smaller, I wouldn’t say bullied is the right word, but you honestly get picked on a little bit, so I had to do something so I wouldn’t get picked on there. I chose to get myself in better shape a little bit, and that’s kind of the reason I started. As I got older, it’s basically to fight weight loss. That’s why I do the cardio and weightlifting.
Q: What’s the most fun trip you’ve taken?
A: I got married two summers ago, and we took the Alaskan cruise. We went on kind of two separate honeymoons, but the most fun one was the Alaskan cruise. It was just absolutely beautiful. Neither of us are cold-weather people in the same breath how many open spaces there were, and the things that we saw. There were whales, we saw orcas, we saw just about every type of wildlife. Even though we went in June it was freezing. We absolutely needed a jacket, because we were literally within a stone’s throw from true glaciers, which not many of them left. So that was my favorite. But if you’re talking about favorites as far as baseball because that’s what most of my trips are. I chase the Brewers around during the summer. Pittsburgh was the nicest stadium. Toronto wasn’t bad, really every big city has something to add on there. The only cities that I thought were kind of scary, I thought Baltimore was terrifying because when the the police leave for the games, it’s not the best area.
Q: If you weren’t teaching what job do you think you would have?
A: When I graduated from high school, I thought I was going into the military. I actually signed a contract to be on active duty. They let me change it to reserve, but I didn’t care for that because, granted, it would change as you got older? I mean, it’s one of those types of things where they say: take one of these two paths, if you take the right one it’s wrong, if you take the left one, it’s also wrong. Well I got out of it because people that I didn’t think were nearly as smart as me would yell at me. To give an example one time I must have had dirt in my ear, and I had a company commander just completely lose it because I had dirt in my ear. He was yelling at the top of his lungs, “I’m gonna come over there, Smith,” he says. “You have dirt, D-E-R-T, dirt in your ear.” He was too stupid to spell dirt, but I was getting yelled at. I did finish out reserves, but I didn’t do the active duty. They let me switch my contract.
Q: What is a book or movie you think every student should read or watch?
A: Die With Zero: Getting All You Can from Your Money and Your Life by Bill Perkins. I’m kind of reading it now. Basically it talks about how you shouldn’t go overboard on saving. Let’s say you die at 70 and you, let’s just come up with a crazy number, say have 5 million dollars what’s that gonna do for you? I mean, there’s, I have $5 million that they could have used to have that. That’s what I’m reading now.
Q: What is the biggest difference you’ve seen between being a high schooler and now teaching high school students?
A: Well it’s changed quite a bit. I mean when I went to high school honestly the teachers arrived right before class and then they left. But as I get older, the teachers get more and more responsibilities. I’m not going to mention the student’s name that I’m working with right now, but we have retake options. I have a student here as you can see, that is taking a retake option, so I have to get here at seven. I can’t leave till four. There’s a lot more demands on teachers than there ever were before, so that’s a little bit tougher. I don’t mind it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m choosing to be here, and I made the right decision in the career I choose. I absolutely love going to work but, yes, there’s more time demands and little things that we have to do that you didn’t have to do when I was younger and started teaching because this is my 32nd year teaching.
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