In two to four sentences, describe your post-Biola work/life journey.

Immediately after college, I was placed by Teach for America teaching English at a credit-recovery charter high school in Hawthorne, CA. I am now finishing my fifth year of teaching at Monte Vista Christian High School in Watsonville, CA (which happens to also be my alma mater high school). Besides every grade of English, I have also taught High School courses in Science Fiction, Creative Writing, Church History, Bible, and Film. I am slowly working on a Master’s degree in Theology; my future dreams include starting a literary journal, starting classical Christian High Schools that target low-income and at-risk youth, and continuing graduate work in Literature and Theology. I married my lovely wife, Staycie, who taught Middle School but is now home with our sweet one-year-old daughter, Petra.

What's your current occupation, and in what ways did getting a degree in English prepare you for your job?

My English degree, besides being an English degree, instilled in me habits of robust reading and inquiry and inculcated in me a philosophy of education as the formation of the whole person: mind, soul and body. Teaching is a strange art; my time studying at Biola prepared me to relate to my students personally and academically.

What was a favorite class or experience you had while a Biola English major?

Opportunities to be a Teacher’s Assistant stand out the most. I had the chance to assist in Dr. Park’s Intro to Critical Theory course after taking the course myself. I learned a lot and developed the habits and mindsets of good teaching.

What about life after college was most surprising to you?

I had always thought and talked about, but never experienced quite as potently, what many today are calling anti-intellectualism in America. I am continually surprised to find how rare it is to be in an environment where truly free intellectual exploration can take place. Communities, workplaces, and most tragically, schools, are plagued by a variety of challenges and assumptions that inhibit honest intellectual reflection, inquiry and discussion.

What advice would you give to a current Biolan majoring in English? Or what's something you did in college that later helped you professionally?

My advice is contained in the following heroic couplet:

        Seek those who seek the truth in heartfelt love, / And never will you school become sick of.

What are you reading?

This year I’ve been on a British poetry kick: Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Donne are my recent favorites. Hopkins’ “The Wreck of the Deutschland” and Donne’s “Satyr III” will change your life and your ears if you let them. I’ve also been on a Church History kick, and am working through Robert Louis Wilkin’s The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity. To finish our school year, I am also teaching my High School seniors excerpts of Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth and Coleridge’s poetic collaboration), Paradise Lost, and Pride and Prejudice.