Jim

Nationality: American

Role: Coach

I am an American teacher who was born and raised in a little mill town in the northern part of the state of New Hampshire. Following high school, I did my undergraduate work at one of the state's teacher colleges, got married and went right into teaching from there. My first teaching position was teaching math at White Mountain Regional High School in Lancaster, New Hampshire.

We found we were expecting during our second year there and decided to move to my wife’s home state of Louisiana so she could be near her home for the birth of our first child. I found a math position at a newly integrated high school there so we picked up and moved south that summer.

Toward the end of our first year there, I was offered a job at the American International School in Torino Italy. It was an offer that was too exciting to pass up so after only a year of teaching in the deep south and with our one year old daughter in tow, we moved to Torino where, in addition to being the athletic director and photo club advisor, I was the sole math and science teacher for grades 7-12. I never worked so hard nor enjoyed teaching so much in all my life. I remember each and every one of those kids to this day.

The international school closed at the end of my 2nd year in Torino so I returned to the University of New Hampshire to accept a teaching assistantship and complete my Master's degree. By this time, my wife and I were tired of moving and were looking to establish roots somewhere. So once I completed my degree, I accepted a position as a math teacher at Pinkerton Academy in southern New Hampshire, bought our first home and have been here ever since.

During the 31 years I’ve been at Pinkerton, I designed, introduced and taught 9 new courses, introduced computers and networking to the Academy and established and chaired their first computer department. I am currently a computer-programming instructor teaching Visual Basic, C++ and Java.

Last year I was asked to coach my first ThinkQuest team. It didn’t take me long to discover that working with these kids was both an honor and a privilege. Meeting them in San Francisco was one of the highlights of my professional career. I knew I was hooked so when I came back, I went about putting a new team together and I haven’t looked back.

This year’s team is bright, tight and a veritable joy to work with. My role on the team was to help complete some of the paperwork, help my assistant, Tina, proofread what the kids wrote, lend an attentive ear and help, guide, encourage and excite wherever I could. The real work however was done:

• by the kids who did all the research, came up with every original idea, and then worked together to design and implement all of it on their own, and
• by Tina who was the upbeat, positive, role model for all of us.

I hope some day to meet all of them in person so I can tell them face to face, the impact they have had on me, and the joy and honor it has been working with each and every one of them. These kids are AWESOME!

See also: Credits, Reference List