Throughout my career as an elementary school student no subjects stood out to me as interesting. I didn’t like any school subject over the other. It was all just school to me. But once I got to middle school that changed when I was introduced to Mr. McConville.

Mr. McConville, A teacher at Stone Bank, was a science teaching, marathon running, badass. He had the ability to make anything interesting. It didn’t matter if it was plate tectonics, covalent bonding, or the history of famous astronomers. He would make it interesting and engaging through interactive labs, demos, or relevant videos. Mr. McConville, with his masterful use of sarcasm and dry humor, which was hilarious by the way, inspired kids like me to learn science not only as a class, but as a hobby. He showed us that being interested in science doesn’t mean you have to be an old college professor. He showed us science is evolving and that young people like us are needed to advance the field of science, engineering, and technology.

Some of the best experiences I had in his class were during subjects I would have never imagined liking. And that's what makes Mr. McConville such a great teacher. He has the ability to make a seventh grade kid genuinely excited to go to class and learn how to draw lewis dot structures. That has to count as some sort of super power. Right?

Somehow, he convinced me, as a middle school kid, that chemistry, physics, and biology were something to get excited about. This is partly due to how great of a role model he was to his students. He wasn’t just a great teacher, he was somebody his students looked up to. I, and many of my peers, thought that Mr. McConville was the coolest guy. He was like Bill Nye but could teach science then go run a marathon afterwards. While he may not have realized it then, the impact he made on me stuck with me for years after middle school.

As a high school senior I still think back to my middle school science class. Whether it's AP Chemistry, AP Biology, or physics I still find myself thinking, Pfff, Mr. McConville taught us that. If Mr. McConville weren’t my middle school science teacher I wouldn’t have been in high school science classes to begin with. But my interest in science will not end at the high school level. Due to Mr. McConville’s influence on me I am majoring in chemical engineering next year. It’s interesting how one teacher that you look up to can influence what you want to do with your life. I suppose everyone has those kinds of teachers. But for me that teacher is and always will be Mr. McConville.