Owasso’s new educators: our dearest pilots
By Paige Purifoy
Being a new student is a daunting experience. The hallways of unknown faces and piles of unfamiliar assignments are encounters most people would love to avoid.
But this pressure increases tenfold when it comes to the responsibility of being a new teacher. Rick Smith said it best, “Being a new teacher is like trying to fly an airplane while building it.”
Photo of Mr. Nading taken by Jillian Childress
Our wonderful educators at Owasso High School aspire to give us the best learning experience possible, and that task comes with extreme challenges and duties that can often feel like a plane spiraling out of control. Additions to our faculty entrusted with this “plane” are the unsung heroes of this year every student needs to meet.
Shawn Nading, the new AP Physics and Physical Science teacher, is a welcome addition to our staff. This is Nading’s first year at Owasso High School but his 18th in education. Prior to teaching classes here, he had a background at Miami High School, his alma mater, and Wyandotte High School. He recalls the chaos of his first day, which is a common experience among students and teachers alike.
“The first day of school was quite an experience for me,” he laughs. “I managed to lock myself out of my school google account and had to change all my passwords ... and I left my key card at my house and had to wait for someone to let me in the building. Quite a start at a new school!”
Nading was especially excited about teaching AP courses for the first time in his career. To him, Physics and Physical Science are essential to fully understand and appreciate what we observe in our day to day lives, and he makes sure to integrate that importance into his classroom. Despite troubles on the first day, Nading loves our school and his class.
“Teaching at OHS has been amazing!” he says. “My colleagues ... have been so welcoming and helpful and ... I enjoy coming to school everyday!”
Mr. Nading has been a phenomenal inclusion to our school, and we are grateful for his devotion to the course he teaches.
Another applauded teacher who joined us last year is Mr. John-Michael Thompson, more widely known as Mr. Dash. He is in charge of Sports Media and Broadcasting, a popular elective at OHS. They stream all the games on Owasso Sports Network, and teaching students how to use and handle such elaborate equipment is a key responsibility of theirs. They also make and edit other types of videos.
“[I] teach them how to use video editing software, how to use cameras. ... [I] try to cover a wide variety of things. And it took me a while to figure out what I should try to cover, but once I figured it out it made [teaching the class] a lot easier.”
Dash is an esteemed addition to the OHS staff and his class does an excellent job of making our sports teams look great on the field. His students undoubtedly love him and we are so grateful to have him here!
Yet another wonderful educator is our new Forensic Science teacher and returning OHS alumni, Mr. Bryon Fry. Fry taught at Epic, an online public school, for two years prior to joining OHS. He describes the contrast between Epic, where you communicate with your students one on one, and OHS, where almost 3,000 high schoolers are enrolled.
“The biggest difference is just having a class here for an hour that I have to control and really teach to,” Fry remarks.
Photo of Mr. Fry taken by Jillian Childress
He has a degree in Criminal Justice and brings that experience to the classroom. In Forensic Science, students learn how science and the scientific method can be applied to the criminal justice system.
“It’s very important for me to make sure that they are challenged and enjoying [the class] and it’s worthwhile to them,” Fry says. “So I try to put stuff together [so] that they can walk in and say ‘Oh wow! This is cool, I’m glad we’re doing this!”
Teachers fresh to the Owasso experience are people we should all be grateful for. It’s not easy being new, and taking charge of classes is intimidating to say the least. While these duties can be full of chaos akin to a nosediving plane, these new teachers take the wheel with admirable heroism.