Senior Hunter Haskett and sophomore Cassie Honeycutt visited with a new face in the gym and in the math classroom:
How long have you been teaching?
“I’ve been teaching 12 years. I started in middle school and then I’ve been teaching high school for the last 10 years.”
Which one do you like better?
“High school. Middle schoolers, they’re not quite children and they’re not quite adults and it just makes it really hard because you’re having to deal with adult problems sometimes with kid-level maturity. At least with high schoolers, you guys are still growing, there is still some maturity things that you have to deal with, but I think at least your frontal lobe is developed enough that you can start to have some adult conversations about the adult issues. So yeah, I like high school.”
Where did you teach beforehand?
“Originally when I first started teaching I taught at my local high school, West Johnston High School, that all four of my kids graduated from. I taught there for seven years until my last kid graduated from there and then we moved to the beach: Wilmington, North Carolina. I’ve been there for the last five years and then got the opportunity to come to the Outer Banks.”
How is Wilmington different then the Outer Banks?
“First of all, it is a big city. I like living in the big city. I don’t like teaching in the big city so much. I wanted to get back to my smaller community roots with the teaching aspect. But I miss Bojangles.”
Why did you move to the OBX and start working at FFHS?
“We liked it in Wilmington. We were at the beach, we had a pretty good situation. I had a good coaching situation, a good teaching situation. But I wanted to return to varsity coaching and the First Flight volleyball position became available. I have been coaching volleyball for the last 10 years and I started to do a little bit of research about the school and the area, and it looked like a good opportunity. I’m happy I did. The thing for me that is the most different between Wilmington and the Outer Banks is there is much more sense of community and that helps the kids be more accountable. They are accountable to their teachers, they’re accountable to each other. Good group of kids.”
Have you taught anything else?
“No, taught math the whole time… well I shouldn’t say that. In middle school I did teach one section of science and that was fun, but I have a little bit of background in that. I was in engineering school my first two years of college. I have some pretty good science background, at least for seventh grade. But no, I’m a math nerd. The thing I love about math is that there is a right answer. It’s not a debate, it’s not a conversation, there are not different vantage points. It’s just, ‘Nope, it’s a three.’ That appeals to my Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.¨
Why did you choose to teach this subject?
¨I was a math major in college so I have always loved math. Of course, it didn’t hurt my mom was a high school math teacher.¨
First impressions of FFHS?
¨There is definitely much more structure than what I am used to. So that has been an adjustment. Ms. Pierce yelled at me my first day of school for having my phone out. I was at outside duty and I was going to check how much time do we have left in second lunch: What do you do when you check the time? Pull out your phone, right? I was like, ‘Yes ma’am, I’m sorry.’ But I think that once I get used to it, I think I’m actually going to like it. I love that in my classes the kids are more engaged, there is good math conversation, good social conversation, there is good teaching life skills kind of conversations. I think I love it. I really do.¨
What do your weekends consist of?
¨I have to say I have hit the beach a few times and some pool time. I think that when I’m in volleyball season my weekends are really just about relaxing. After I get out of volleyball season I think we will explore a little bit more. We like to travel, get around and see the sites. We go and visit a lot, go back home and see the kids. We have a lot of friends back in the Raleigh area we go see. We will do more traveling once volleyball slows down a bit. ¨
What would you be if you weren’t teaching?
“Coach. I don’t know the answer to that. I think that a lot of times when you’re young it feels like, ‘Oh, I might like to try that. I might like to try that.’ But at the end of the day my advice for young people would be to say, ‘What feels right and natural? What is the thing that you’re really built to do? And when you get there it doesn’t seem much like a job.’ For me that is teaching and coaching. It just feels very natural to me. I don’t always do the best job, I got a long way to go, but I think it feels like the right place for me. I love what I do.¨
Hobbies/Special talents?
¨I would say I’m a Renaissance man. I have a lot of hobbies and special talents. Most notably I am a very good bowler. I carry about a 190 average. I’m also an excellent poker player. I played in the main event of the World Series of Poker in 2005. In Las Vegas, $10,000 buy in. I play poker at a pretty high level. I went back to the National Championships at World Tavern Poker last year in Vegas. Qualified for that. I don’t get to spend as much time playing cards as I would like because I’m committed to my career. And I also coach travel ball during the offseason. I don’t get as much table time as I would like. There was a time I played a lot back in ‘04 to ‘08, probably played about four to six nights a week. ¨
Describe teaching in one word.
¨Heart. For me it’s about the heart. I can’t imagine doing this job without putting your heart into it and caring about kids. Every kid is a challenge, figuring out how are they thinking, what are they … So how can I show them I care about them so they can care about what I’m trying to teach them. So for me it is all about heart. ¨
What college did you go to?
¨NC State. Home of the Pack. ¨
What would you want to know about living on the OBX?
¨Where are the best places to eat? On a teacher’s budget.¨
What are you looking forward to?
¨Off-season. I love the season, I’m looking forward to it. We got hired a little bit late, my preseason was shortened a little bit and because nobody in the Outer Banks knows me, all those first relationship challenges. Myself, my coaching staff and the girls have done a great job of taking a tough situation and making the best out of it. We are off to a good start and we have had a lot of positives. But it has been a challenging time with all the obstacles that they have and all the obstacles we have. I’m excited about the rest of the season and I’m also excited about sitting down on a Sunday morning and getting ready for the NFL games and knowing that I don’t have volleyball practice on Monday.¨
