Chris Meyers, high school math
Q: Why did you choose to come to GCAA?
A: A variety of reasons. I like to, and I wanted to teach in the city. I just feel that the city has a lot of room for improvement in the school systems and school districts and such and I wanted to do what I could to make an impact in that regard. Why GCAA in particular? Well, my daughter has a very strong performing arts background, she’s actually getting her Bachelor’s in fine arts right now for musical theatre. I have a background in performing arts myself, playing trumpet and other brass instruments, acting, I was part of a comedy duo during college, just a lot of performing and I thought it would be a very interesting place to work with kids that are very talented and make sure they’re getting the academics as well as the arts.
Q: Where were you before you came here?
A: Last year, when I was hired by Confluence, I started the last 3 months of last year teaching 7th grade math at Elite Middle, under the assumption that I would be here this year. Prior to that, I was at the Hawthorn Leadership School for girls, teaching there, and a lot of our students here come from there, so it’s kind of neat to see them here.
Q: Are you trying to incorporate your arts background into your classes?
A: Yeah, somewhat, especially in the relationship development, you know, relating to the students in the ways they can relate to me as well, but yeah, also into the curriculum wherever possible because, you know, math is in music, in art, it’s all in everything.
Q: Where did you go to college?
A: I went to Iowa State University for Engineering and then I went to get my teaching degree from UMSL.
Q: What’s your long-term goal for your classes?
A: My long-term goals, especially for my Algebra 1 and Algebra 1A classes, is that they can all become competent enough and master the skills necessary to pass the EOC test, that’s the big one. For my Geometry, it’s to promote outside-the-box thinking, looking at things from a different perspective instead of just the one way, just trying to get my students to think a little more.
Q: Do you have anything that you think is unique about this school that will help you with that?
A: Yeah, I think that just the fact that everyone here has an arts pathway, and so it’s not just the traditional locked-into-academics. Just the fact that there’s an arts pathway that everyone is involved in, I think that automatically gives you a different perspective on things. Students in the arts look at things in a more creative way.