Senior Chief William McClain is the perfect nomination for Educator of the Year. Imagine a teacher that can always make you laugh and knows how to have a good time in class while still teaching us what we need to know. Also, one who teaches you to be the best you can be and motivates you to push yourself and strive everyday. Well that is the kind of person he is all the time. Senior Chief is passionate, driven, and prideful of his years in the Navy and shares his amazing, sometimes hilarious, experiences with us and motivates us to chase our dreams. He’s taught us all that if we try we can be anything we want to be.

The thing I like most about Senior Chief is his passion for the Navy and teaching us everything that he learned about it. You can just tell by his demeanor at school that he loves working at DMA with all of the kids and being able to pass on his knowledge about something he loves so much and is so passionate about. He tell us in class how much he loved working in the Navy, and it’s even clearer when we’re drilling; he will not let us stop until everything looks almost perfect. Everyone will get annoyed, but the Navy is what he loves so why would he just let us go against the rules or not try to look our best. He served for the United States Navy for over 10 years, and now he’s continuing what he does best by working at DMA.

I have Senior Chief’s class first thing in the morning and, every Monday in Senior Chief’s class is pretty much joke day; basically if you have a joke to tell, you could go up to the front of the class and tell it. This made Mondays way more fun; he always would say that it’s good to start off your week with some humor. It really did; our class has a lot of bonding moments like this and because he makes us do everything together, I’ve made a lot of new friends, and I feel a lot more comfortable at school ever since that class on the first day of school. Also, he’s always giving us nicknames, and trust me they will stick; you would think he would forget about it, but no, every time he sees you, he will call you that same nickname; my last name is Crespo so mine is crispy, and there’s this boy named Byron, and his nickname is velcro because Senior Chief thinks his hair looks like velcro. I feel like these are all examples of how he’s just an easy person to be around and joke with, and you can always look forward to his class everyday.

To add to everything else, he is my marksmanship coach which is why I know him maybe a little more than most people in my class. I had never even touched a rifle before this year; I wanted to try something new. However, I have come a long way from when I started, because he’s been there to help me and give me tips, and those little tips have actually really helped me be better at shooting. Everything that he’s done in marksmanship has helped me become the best first year shooter of this school year; while I never even imagined I would’ve gone that far in one year, I have to give all the thanks to him and the other coaches, and I really appreciate him helping and motivating me to be better.

Senior Chief McClain is an example of motivation, pride, and passion. He always goes the extra mile to help, make us happy, and just laugh. I just really respect everything he stands for and appreciate every piece of wisdom that he’s passed to us. Also, I’ll never forget some of the jokes and stories he’s told us. I definitely think that I made the right choice nominating Senior Chief McClain for Educator of the Year 2018.