Brian McCalpin, high school math teacher

Q: What were you doing before you started working at GCAA?

A: “Massage therapy. This is my first year as an official teacher. I’ve just had my teaching certificate for one year. But I’ve taught abroad as an english teacher on two occasions. So years ago I had taught in Taiwan for one year as an english teacher and I taught in Japan as an english teacher. And I also worked as a teacher assistant and a substitute teacher for over ten years with the special school district. But this is my first year as an official teacher.”

Q: What is something that you want people to know about you?

A: “I’m really into the arts. When I put out the application on looking for the job, Ms. Bellmore found me. The school saw my application on the website. I didn’t know about this school a year ago, or I didn’t know that I didn’t know about it; indirectly I did. So, the day of, or the day after, I posted my application on the website for all of the teachers in Missouri, she called me, and said she wanted me to come in for an interview. And I guess part of it was because I have so much experience with the arts. I’m a singer, I have appeared on stage in community theater, I’m an actor, I am familiar with musical instruments. I have played piano, flute, and french horn in the past; I don’t play any of that now. So yeah, I have a strong connection to the arts, even though now I’m just a math teacher.”

Q: What’s your long-term goal for your students or class?

A: “Just that they graduate, that they become confident with the material and pass their EOCs or whatever they’ve got coming up; that they do it confidently because they’ve learned it so thoroughly. That’s my goal.”

Q: What are you looking forward to at GCAA?

A: “I’m looking forward to seeing the students in their performances; the dancers, the actors, the singers, whatever. I’m looking forward to seeing my students that I’m teaching math to in a different setting.”