Photo courtesy of the Brophy Yearbook Team | Mr. Smith (bottom left) in the 2018 Yearbook.

By Carl Justice ’21

THE ROUNDUP

Mr Davis’s question from the last Teacher’s Pet: What is the most awkward thing that has happened to you this year?

Every year, I try to take an awkward photo in the great hall. It becomes my picture in the yearbook at the end of the year.

What made you want to return to the Brophy Faculty?

I was teaching at public school and then ran into one of my old teachers from when I was a student. I told him that I was teaching and he asked me to consider Brophy. I always wanted to return to teach at Brophy but I wanted to make sure that I was good at it by gaining confidence at a public school. I didn’t want Brophy to be my first teaching job.

What is your favorite book to teach?

Right now, it’s “Ready Player One.” Everyone likes it, it’s fun to read, it has many interesting video game references, and it has some good moral issues. It has depth, but it’s also fun to read.

What is the favorite book up on your walls?

I like “Don Quixote.” I think it’s a beautiful book. It’s very long, but there are also abridged versions that students can read. It’s a classic book that I recommend to anyone that wants a summer book that they would be proud of finishing.

How did you get started with your clubs?
All of the clubs that I am moderating started with conversations from students. I do the movie club on Mondays, and probably a few years ago I had a conversation with a student about watching movies on Mondays. We made it a club and it took off from there. Vinyl club went the exact same way. They evolved into clubs from small conversations.

Have you always taught freshmen?

I have always taught Freshmen, but I taught Sophomores as well.

Do you like teaching freshmen?
I’m a Brophy grad myself, and I remember that freshman year was really hard. It’s a transition, everything is unfamiliar, you don’t know your place on campus yet, you don’t have your friends yet. I think that because I have gone through that as well, I can help freshmen by getting them through the year. When you’re not a freshman, it’s different. My goal is to get people back to sophomore year, because when they get back to sophomore year, it’s going to be fine.

What is a question that you would like the next teacher featured to answer?

If you could put any two historical figures together for a lunch, who would they be and what would they talk about?