By Lilye Adkins 42Fifty Staff Writer
This month, 42Fifty would like to congratulate Assistant Athletic Director and teacher, Mr. Mark Johnson on being our first staff spotlight! Mr. Johnson has 21 years of teaching under his belt, with 14 of those years here at Oswego High School.
“I graduated in ‘96 from college and went straight into teaching during the ‘97-’98 school year. I worked at Minooka High School for a year as a DA , and then worked at Joliet Catholic for six as a World History teacher, baseball coach and basketball coach…from ‘04 to now, I’ve been here ” Mr. Johnson said.
When Mr. Johnson isn’t in his office helping out with OHS athletics, he’s in room 206 educating the youth of today. This school year he is teaching AP Human Geography and Modern World History.
“I really enjoy teaching Human Geography. It’s constantly changing, which makes it exciting and fun. It’s relevant to our lives. It’s a challenging course but I get really good, motivated kids who want to learn, which makes it fun.” Mr. Johnson commented.
Something that many of Mr. Johnson’s co-workers and students may not know about him is that he has a flair for the dramatics. While he may look like your typical sports loving, hall monitoring teacher, deep down, there is a soul of an artist, yearning to get out.
“When I was in junior college, my sister was in a musical and they needed male backup dancers…..long story short, I was a backup dancer for Grease...I don’t dance–I don’t even sing, but I got to be a greaser.” Mr. Johnson stated.
Mr. Johnson was given the staff spotlight for this month because he cares not only about how his students do academically, but he also cares about their personal lives. He wants what is best for his students and loves to see them succeed in whatever it is they do. Congratulations again, Mr. Johnson
Lilye Adkins covers Oswego High School news and produces the video series “Lilye’s Lighthearted Moments” as well the video series “Optimist and the Pessimist” with Jennifer Ruegsegger. She can be reached at 61001306@students.sd308.org. Or contact the publication directly at 42fifty@sd308.org
Student Publication of Oswego High School, Oswego, IL
